What makes a Man and what makes a Monster
by Silent Soul Ken -SSK
Summary: Summary: It had been a day like any other day, until the giant meteors hit. All those in the blast radius find themselves still alive, having awoken in a new place, but things are not what they seem...
1. Prologue

Of Men and Monsters  
A Naruto Lives Crossover Story  
Written by SSK  
Assisted by Baron Von Nobody  
Rating M for Mature: Blood, Gore, Violence, Sexual Activity, and Language  
Summary: It had been a day like any other day, until the giant meteors hit. All those in the blast radius find themselves still alive, having awoken in a new place, but things are not what they seem...  
 **A/N: There is a manga called Lives it's a rather curious manga and I would recommend reading it, I will warn you though it is rather short. This story will go beyond the manga ever did so enjoy.**

 **Prologue  
Meteors**

A young man wearing a black trenchcoat, white undershirt, and blue jeans walked out of the gates of the school. Wrapped around his head was a white headband with long trails, his hands were in his pockets his arm had muscle that bulged slightly as he walked, his skin slightly tanned, and his hair a spiked mess colored like the sun. His face was young but strong, his eyes were a deep blue that could rival the blue of the sky above. His name was Naruto Uzumaki, a young man who grew up with his Godfather Jiraiya and his Godmother Tsunade. His parents had died when he was a kid, in a car accident. He didn't much like his godparents, he felt they were old, boring, annoying and had as much idea how to raise a kid as they did having one. As such he grew up to be a delinquent causing trouble, making fights, and always getting on everybody's bad side. You wanted an idiot to annoy someone call Naruto. Needed someone beaten to a pulp? Call Naruto. You need a bodyguard from some jerks at school? Call Naruto.

He stopped as he came to the wall turning, blocking off the property of Konoha Highschool from the public, and looked at the school. All of it was just an act, in truth Naruto was a nice young man who could be courteous, kind, and friendly. However it was easier to push people away than to keep them close. He never really had a friend nor did he really want one. He looked away sighed his shoulder slumping. "Fuck school good for anyway?" he muttered darkly and continued to walk eyes closing and he inhaled deeply his head moving back as he took in the air. The same dirty, industrial air he smelled every day, he lowered his head opening his eyes and started walking again. His feet carried him his mind focusing on other things. Stupid things girls, homework, his godparents, what kind of job would he get, and other random crap.

"Hey if it isn't Naruto!" he looked up he was in front of Ichiraku Ramen, a small ramen restaurant ran by Ichiraku the owner, proprietor and creator of said restaurant. He was an older man approaching his early 50's who wore the same white diamond shaped chef hat, white chef shirt, and white shorts. Currently he was at the door readying to go on his lunch break. "Shouldn't you be in school?" the old man asked, Naruto just looked away. "You know if you keep this up you won't be able to get a respectable job." The old man said as he went to lock the doors. When all he got was silence the old man sighed. "Come in." he ordered and he opened the door and walked inside. Naruto followed suit, the restaurant was about as big as a local diner 6 tables with window views, and a small bar for those wanting either a drink or chat with the owner while they ate. Naruto went to the bar and sat down, he drummed his fingers on the counter.

"So what'd you do this time?" asked Ichiraku as he shook the strainer.

"Nothing," replied the blonde outcast gruffly, "Just didn't want to hear the teacher talking so I left." He rubbed and wrung his hands as he waited.

"I'm guessing _him_ would that Iruka teacher yes?" Naruto didn't say anything. "You know he worries about you. Says so when he comes here." Informed the ramen maker.

"So?" the blonde began shift in his seat, he wasn't comfortable with talking to people who talked about him to other people or being told that they talked about him.

"So you don't care that despite all the hot air he blows in school that he is quite genuinely and greatly worried that you could become a thug in the street?" The old man set down the hot bowl of ramen. Naruto stared into the bowl and saw his reflection. The boy wiped his sweaty forehead and sat there his right hand tapping the desk in a steady rhythm.

"Look I just want to do what I want to do ok?" Naruto said.

"My boy that's not how the world works for people like you and me. If you want to do that you need to have things, influence, money, a job. People don't care about you if you don't have that and if you want that you need to get educated. But what you should be doing is what you love most." Ichiraku advised. The boy tapped the counter again, one leg jumping as he thought.

' _Not like I asked anybody to look out for me,'_ he grabbed a chopstick and split them. _'I can look out after myself better than they could,'_ he dipped the wooden sticks and pulled out a few noodles blowing on them to cool them down. He then ate it, _'Do I really have to lie to myself?'_ he swallowed "A bit pointless old man only thing I like is being outdoors and fighting." Said the kindhearted tough guy.

"And helping people." Ichiraku added in.

"Shut up." Retorted the boy, he went to scoop up some more when everything began to rattle and clang loudly. The two looked around, "Is that an earthquake?" asked Naruto confused.

"Never had one before… but…" the old man stopped as he looked out the window noticing how everything was in shadow. "Somethings going on outside!" he said and he went from his counter to the door Naruto right behind him. When they got out and looked up they could only gawk in disbelief. Above them was a giant meteor that was falling them! He stared up at the giant rock burning red hot from entering that atmosphere and he tried to run. However his legs refused to move! _'Run you fucking moron run!'_ his leg twitched and he punched it to force it but the meteor was so large that he was within it's impact radius. "Fuck…" was the only thing he could say then the meteor crashed down. An intense and instant burning filled him his flesh burned off almost instantly he tried to scream however his body was rent into pieces and he thought no more.

 **-Konoha Highschool Room 3-C-**

A young woman wrote down in a notebook as the teacher talked, she would raise her head her black eyes scanning the board only to lower it to jot down and adjust her notes. She had long hair that was a rich dark Indigo that would look black in all other lights save sunlight some of her hair got in her view and she gently pulled it behind her ear with her hand. She was dressed in normal school wear; a plaid, blue green skirt, and a white sailor top that was bulging slightly from her rather generous bosom. Her skin was a rich creamy white color, and her face was soft, round yet strangely mature she wore no makeup as she cared not for such things she had large dark black eyes, in fact one could see their own reflection in them. This was Hinata Hyuuga, the number academic student in Konoha Highschool. She was known for three particular traits. Number one, her body for a girl of 18 years of age, pushing 19, she had a rather well-developed body some even considered it rather scandalous and slutty. Number two, her dedication to school study she was very studious and dedicated to her education few would find a person more zealous toward education than her. Number three, her academic grades was among the highest in the school only 2 other people were higher than her, one Sasuke Uchiha and Shino Aburame.

However her background made reason two and three clear. She was the daughter of the Hyuuga family a large industrious company. The Hyuuga's were business minded, strict, with heavy political ties to their company. They were the best, were expected to be the best and did not tolerate anything less than the best. To say she was pressured would be putting it mildly. She was suffocating under a great weight forced upon her by her father. _'A Hyuuga must always aim to be the best, anything else is beneath them!'_ those words were drilled into her skull and stuck there like gum under the desk. Hard, gnarled and disgusting, she would've liked to of been a normal girl but the name Hyuuga prevented that. She didn't want the weight of responsibility or title that came with her family name.

The bell rang students closed their books and pushed backwards in their chairs to stand up. As they put their school items away Hinata remained at her desk writing down the notes still. Minutes passed as she wrote, "That's all Hinata." The teacher said, her pencil stopped writing and she sat there. She set her pencil down and closed her notebook grabbing her backpack she began to put her materials inside. As she did she heard the door to the classroom open.

"Look at this if it isn't the honor student still here after the lunch bell rings like clockwork." A young mans voice said, cocky and somewhat sneering. She looked up to see a young man with short spiky brown hair and two markings on his cheek shaped like two upside down red triangles. This was Kiba a young man who was cocky, a troublemaker and despite his actions had a very large crush on Hinata. She continued putting her stuff away as Kiba walked toward her. "Say how about you come with me after school to the park? You know get some air, talk for a bit… like a normal girl." Hinata stopped at this her black eyes looking around scared. Hinata wasn't dumb she knew that all Kiba wanted to do was get in her pants, however she knew he would never do so without her consent or risk serious ramifications.

His tactic was the same, come in sneering, insulting and then switch to tempting her with an attempt at normalcy. Truth be told she would've accepted it no problem had she been anything but a Hyuuga. But the problem was she was a Hyuuga, her father would consider it a great insult on the family name if she consented to Kiba's advances. 'Such things are beneath a Hyuuga! Beneath you!' it was what he would say and if he learned she'd allow it he make her life a living hell and probably would publicly disown her. While part of her understood that she'd no longer be bound to her family all attempts at normal life afterward would be impossible. Her father would use his connections to deny her a job, deny her an education and deny her life in general. She'd died homeless, poor, and crushed by the wrath of her father.

"No thank you Kib-san." She said in her soft voice and she put her notebook inside and shouldered her backpack and walked out. Kiba however pursued her, eventually walking side by side with her.

"Aw come on I'm just asking for a walk through the park not your hand in marriage or a date." He insisted, Hinata smiled slightly Kiba was one of two people that didn't care that she was a Hyuuga. Though admittedly he didn't start till the first person who didn't care about her status talked to her, that person was the blonde-haired blue-eyed Naruto Uzumaki.

"Answer is still no Kiba-san." She repeated.

"Fine, fine I wanted to give you a chance to be normal but-" He stopped as he saw a person leaning against the wall of a classroom. He had long black hair with a slight brownish tinge, and black eyes similar to Hinata, his skin was also rather pale like hers and he looked at the two his eyes narrowing with disgust as he looked at Kiba.

"N-Neji-san!" She said partly surprised, partly embarrassed. Neji Hyuuga, Hinata's cousin. It was rather well know that Neji was highly favored by the Hyuuga due to his own high grades, athleticism and powerful presence.

"Shouldn't you be at lunch with your pathetic friends dog boy?" Said the male Hyuuga coldly.

"What'd you say?" Kiba growled, Kiba's family owned a dog hotel where locals would take their dogs to get treated like kings as his family had an unusual affinity with dogs.

"Move away from her now and maybe I won't report this to her father and he doesn't end up driving your business into the dirt." Neji warned moving away from the wall and walking toward them. He stood in front of Kiba who glared at him, "Beat it." The brown haired man growled then he walked away. Hinata scowled and she gripped the shoulder strap of her backpack tightly.

"He wasn't doing anything you know." She snapped angrily.

"He's beneath you, he shouldn't even be talking to you like equals neither should that other punk." Said her cousin coolly ever in control of his emotions.

"You are a real piece of work, or rather a real asshole can't I just have a normal conversation with my classmates for once?" She shot at him venomously and she walked away from him. Neji's gaze fell into an apologetic look as he watched her. Truth be told Neji cared about her and her safety he didn't want her to get into trouble with her father. If he was honest everyone in this school was beneath her especially that Naruto person as well as the two girls he knew that Hinata would be sitting with in a few minutes. However he wasn't worried about Hinata with those two as he knew she would never do what they wanted.

-Lunchroom-

Hinata sat by herself near the window while students sat with their classmates with lunch they bought from the lunchroom or from home. In her case it was a bento she had made for herself, rice, with curry, sausages made in the shape of octopus, and even diced octopus mixed in the curry. She heard the clatter of plates and looked up to see a girl with long blonde hair with a noticeable bang that covered one of her eyes. Next to her was a girl with bubblegum pink hair with a rather wide forehead. The blonde was Ino Yamanaka, and the pinkette Sakura Haruno. Both were 'friends' of Hinata, if they could be called that. It's true that they kept her company and talked with her more respectfully than most, however they were not the ideal 'friend' that most people would consider. They were at the most leechers wanting to get her into trouble and tempt her into doing very inappropriate things."So Hinata, how's it going?" Ino asked.

"Fine." She said simply.

"Oh come on you can't tell me you weren't shocked when that bonehead decided to leave class," Sakura said in a hushed tone Hinata's fork froze at that, "Ah ha!" the pinkette smiled triumphantly."Oh come on you can't tell me you weren't shocked when that bonehead decided to leave class," Sakura said in a hushed tone Hinata's fork froze at that, "Ah ha!" the pinkette smiled triumphantly.

"Isn't it true you have a crush on him?" Hinata shook her head.

"No." she said they looked at her face, she wasn't blushing or looking embarrassed.

"Mmm well seriously though I almost thought he was gonna throw his desk at Iruka-sensei that guy's like a ticking timebomb filled with-" Ino began when Hinata pounded her fist on the table the plates shaking.

"Could you shut up?" Hinata snapped, her face now red with anger.

"Geeze relax I didn't think you thought so highly of him." Ino said though she did look a little rattled from Hinata's anger. That wasn't the only thing that was rattled as the plates began to rattle on the table.

"Whoa chill out she said she was sorry." Sakura said.

"I'm not doing that," Hinata said confused, "And she didn't say she was sorry!" the Hyuuga pointed out angrily.

"Then what's-" the pinkette began but then someone screamed.

"O-Outside!" All the students cluttered to the window and they saw everything was growing dark then they looked up and pandemonium ensued. There was a giant meteor falling down burning red hot. Hinata stood still even as students ran out of the lunchroom screaming and pushing other students out of the way or down.

"Hey come on!" Sakura shouted grabbing the heiress' shoulder.

"Just leave her! Let's go!" Ino snapped and she pulled her friend away. The Meteor crushed the ceiling raining burning rubble down. Hinata just looked up her hair burned then her skin burned and her body was crushed as the meteor fell down on her.

* * *

 ** _Not the longest of Prologue but it's for setting things up, I'll have chapter 1 up tomorrow provided this has garnered some interest.  
_**


	2. Chapter 1

What Makes a Monster and What makes a Man?  
Written by Silent Soul Ken SSK  
Assisted by Baron Von Nobody  
Rating M for Mature: Blood, Gore, Violence, Sexual Activity, and Language  
Summary: It had been a day like any other day, until the giant meteors hit. All those in the blast radius find themselves still alive, having awoken in a new place, but things are not what they seem...

 **Considering how many favorites and follow's this got it seems it's garnered enough interest to continue. So here's chapter 1 just a warning this is going to be a very bloody ride, also for now do not assume things to be set in stone till later on in the story.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1  
Inexplicably Alive, Inexplicably Changed**

The sound of birds chirping, and a groan sounded in the air. His groan… from his mouth. _'I'm alive?'_ Naruto Uzumaki pushed himself up looking at his hands. "I'm alive?" He asked aloud, he touched his face, it was still there. He began to touch his body, his clothes were still there as well as all his body parts. "What about-?" He reached down, "One… two… ok they're there." He looked at the ground it was grass, "How can this be? I got squished by a flaming meteor… the ground should be, well if not burned at least sunken in!" he said he got up and the first thing he saw was the ramen shop.

He shook his head then looked again it was still there, "It's here? How can it be…" he stopped his mind slowing down. "Why the hell am I thinking about this I don't like thinking!" he shouted waving with his arms in his frustration. He stood there panting slightly at his little tantrum then he sighed and turned around. "Well if that's there then maybe this was all just a… dream…" as he turned he saw something he knew was not something you saw in the city. Flowers, trees, bushes, yeah you saw those a city but these looked like they belonged in some jungle or rainforest.

He paused then he put his hand to his chin, "I can't be dreaming still, right?" He asked himself, then he remembered, "Old man Ichiraku!" He turned to the ramen restaurant "He has to be inside right?" It was then he stopped. "Why the hell am I talking to myself out loud!?" he shouted. _'That was really weird.'_ He mentally stated. _'I gotta find the old-'_ the crash of expensive china plates sounded inside. "Old man!" Naruto shouted and he ran inside pushing the door open. "Old ma-" he started then stopped as what he saw was enough to shut him up good. Behind the counter was some bizarre creature, it was some type of bizarre giant worm it's body was plated with thick shining armor with had thick stubby arms that were spiked as well as armored.

Naruto took a step back and the door creaked open, the creature turned and it saw him and gave a shrieking growl it's mouth a mere hole with rows of spinning teeth in its maw. The blonde stepped back even further, "Fuck me." He said, turned and began to run. The monster hissed and it bashed through the counter and then through the main doors utterly pulverizing it. It looked around as Naruto ran for the trees and when it heard the rustling bush it squealed and began to chase after him wriggling it's body like a snake to move.

Naruto ran as he had never ran before. He could feel adrenaline pumping through him boosting his senses and body to avoid this creature as it bashed it's way through slowed down as it crashed into trees. "Fuck I gotta get out of it's range!" he muttered, it was a good deal behind him he looked at the trees as he ran. _'That one!'_ and he ran toward a tree he jumped into a small v-shaped crook and pulled himself up using the branches and the split trunk. He got higher till it was possible that he could jump to another tree if needed. He stood there and looked down waiting. The creature squealed as it bashed in, it gave a huff and it looked around. Naruto waited watching carefully being as still as possible in case the thing could hear him wishing he would stop sweating like crazy. It huffed and growled then it turned and went back down it's trail of destruction. Naruto waited for 3 minutes then he clambered down when he landed he looked to see it had gone. _'I guess Old man Ichiraku got eaten…'_ he looked down, _'Ayame… she was away I think on some trip to learn new recipies…'_ he ran a hand through his sweaty head and hair. _'Guess I should look around,'_ he finally decided, and he decided to keep heading the direction he was running.

Minutes passed as he walked, Naruto had the distinct feeling he was getting nowhere. _'There hasn't been even a slight break in these trees… hmmm.'_ He stopped and looked around folding his arms over his chest. _'Which way to go?'_ he heard a slight rustle he tightened his arms and legs ready to fight or run.

"Haaa!" a person jumped out from a bush knife in hand. The blonde spun to the side grabbing the knife and pulling the person down only for the person to drop the knife and roll forward then thrust his foot backward. Naruto however didn't near his adversary he just shifted his feet and hands into a fighting stance a fist held forward open hand raised 5 inches behind it feet shoulder with apart one forward the other back. "You're a tricky one huh?" the person said, they stood. Naruto paused as he recognized the face.

He slightly lowered his guard as he looked at his opponent, "You… aren't' you the gangster Haku? Don't you belong to some gang in the southern side of the city? What're you doing here?" Naruto said.

The man, now identified as Haku, spun his knife once "So you know me huh?" Haku was a thin man wearing a folded black sleeveless gi, with leather pants and leather boots. His long hair had been tied into two forward ponytails with beads attached near the tip as well as one in the back. He grabbed the knife which Naruto now recognized as a balisong knife or a butterfly knife. Haku flicked the knife expertly, he watched Naruto unblinkingly as he did. The knife clicking and clanking as he performed tricks with it, "You look familiar… What's your name?" Haku asked.

The blonde looked at the knife pointedly, "I'll tell you if you put that damn thing away." Naruto negotiated.

The gangster flipped the knife out, "Fine I don't need this to kill you." Replied the knifewielder and he expertly put it in his pocket flipping it close.

Naruto raised his eyebrow and pointed to Haku, "Really? You want to kill me when you're stranded in the middle of nowhere after being hit by a fucking meteor? When I could help you with figuring out what the hell is going on here?" Silence then the gangster folded his arms across his chest.

"You're not as stupid as you look." Was the snarky response.

"Gee thanks," Naruto drawled voice dripping with great sarcasm. "The names Naruto," He said simply and Haku raised an eyebrow, "I'm guessing you know me then?" a nod in response.

"Didn't you beat up the twins Gōzu and Meizu?" queried the gang member.

"Oh those two morons well they were picking on little kids for no good reason." Replied the brawling blonde.

"Part of me wants to thank you for beating those numbskulls and part of me wants to stab you for defeating my comrades." Naruto sighed.

He tightened his headband and rubbed his forehead angrily. "Good god do we really have the luxury to fight each other?" He asked.

The young gang member smiled, and shook his head "No we do not." Haku agreed, "So then a truce till we find out what's going on then?" he held out a pale hand. Naruto paused then took it and they shook.

"Let's get out of here firstly," Naruto said then they heard a growl. "Fuck me." He groaned and he turned to the source above them was a monster it jumped down and landed in front of them and it stood. It was larger than them standing at 8 feet tall it's body covered with fur striped like a tigers, it had large hands with jagged claws, and spikes on it's knuckles, elbows, shoulders, along it's back, thigh area, and on the knees its tail had a sickle like blade at the end. The tail whipped in the air as the monster looked at them then it roared head thrust forward. "RUN!" Naruto shouted and both began to run the monster snarled then it ran after them it's reverse jointed legs giving it an advantage as it began to close after them.

"This way!" Haku shouted and he ran to the right Naruto pursuing him. The creature tried to turn but it's legs couldn't turn in such a way and it fell it growled then got up and pursued again and it began to slice trees out of it's way with it's claws. "Dammit we won't be able to outrun it forever!" Haku hissed.

Naruto leaped over a fallen tree, "Then we gotta trap it and kill it!" he shouted back.

"Trap it where!? Unless you can somehow dig a pit trap within 10 seconds we got nothing!" the gangster roared back.

"Agh dammit…!" Naruto looked around and he saw a tangle of vines he and Haku could jump through it but the creature would get tangled not for long but long enough to stab it's skull. He ran up to Haku, "To the left there's vines let's go that way we can get through and it'll get tangled briefly give me your knife." The gangster looked then nodded and reached into his pocket grabbing the knife and handed it to Naruto. "Ready? Go!" And they turned sprinting for the vines. The monster turned with them using its jagged claws to turn and it ran at them. It narrowed it's eyes and it picked up it's speed to catch them. It raised it's arms as it neared then suddenly they did a diving jump it looked at them confused then it saw the vines. It tried to stop but too late it's body was in the vines. It snarled and snapped trying to pull itself loose the vines were strong though. "Awesome now to kill this bastard!" Naruto said and he opened the knife and held it up ready to stab.

"Goddamn blonde brat… you've always been trouble now you'll be a murderer you happy with yourself." Said blonde stopped as he recognized the voice.

"That voice… was that…?" He looked at the beast which looked him in the face and Naruto gasped backing away as he saw those black hateful eyes and as he looked he saw the distinct human like face that clashed with the animalistic tiger jowl. He looked up even more and saw the light tuft of silver hair. "Mizuki!?" he gasped.

"Got it in one," Mizuki said then he laughed "You've been a unspeakable blemish to the honorable name of Konoha highschool! Time and again I've tried to throw you out like the unprincipled thug you, however you were blessed with incredible luck and the good graces of principal Sarutobi." Spat the man-monster. To say the blonde was shocked would be an understatement, more like rattled to his core. He thought back to the giant worm monster and wondered if that was Ichiraku? It could have been very likely then did that mean that he too would transform into a monster?

"What are you doing!?" Haku shouted, Naruto turned to face him mouth opening to explain. "Look out!" Haku tackled him and as our blonde hero felt he heard a 'snikt' and blood splattered his trench coat and under shirt.

"Haku!" Naruto looked to see that scythe shaped tail was dripping with blood. The blonde pushed up grabbing Haku and swinging him over his shoulder. Both Mizuki and Haku were surprised as Naruto began to run carrying the gangster like a sack of potatoes. The monster tried to move but couldn't due to the vines and his tail whipped about cutting the vines one by one. Meanwhile his prey was getting away.

"Gotta find a river or something," he mumbled as he pushed a branch aside, "Gotta lose our scent!" He said and he slid to a stop.

"Right if we go underwater we'll loose him and a river will carry us to a safer location… if it doesn't run into a waterfall at least." Haku agreed quickly understanding his allies reasoning.

"Yeah found one but it's kinda a drop." He lowered the gangster down who looked for himself. They were at a ridge and below them perhaps 15-18 feet was a river.

Haku rubbed his chin, "That's almost suicide." he muttered.

Naruto looked at him, "Wanna get mauled by the man-tiger?" He asked sarcastically.

"No," And they heard bushes rustling, "here goes nothing!" And the two jumped feet first. G-force and wind wrippled their clothes and body Naruto's headband trails flapping wildly in the air they landed in the water submerged and were instantly whipped by the current.

Above them Mizuki walked to the ridge and growled, "Tch clever and I can't fall myself I haven't mastered transforming back yet." He muttered coldly, "Only thing to do is follow it up stream but where?" and he began his search.

 **-Hinata-**

"Ohhhhh…" The sound emerged from her mouth her hand moved slightly. Even as she opened her eyes she knew two things; one she was alive, two that it was impossible for her to be alive. She had to be dead yet she could feel, she could move, and, as she pushed herself up, she could see. She was inside the school, the cafeteria to be exact, and it was in a state of destruction the wall where the windows had been was twisted pile of cooled slag. Chairs, and benches had been crushed, scattered or melted. _'This can't be… how can I be alive? I was killed by the explosion… I know I was.'_ She looked outside to find a meteor or a crater. The dense foliage was not what she would've expected. _'A forest? But how!? This should be barren this building shouldn't even be standing!'_ she got into a sitting position. _'I can figure that out later the real mystery is why am I still alive? The meteor exploded and I died when the blast radius hit me.'_ She crossed her legs thinking, yet no matter what thought came to mind it didn't fit in logically. _'Magic and miracles don't exist… at least that's what I want to believe. No matter what logical thought comes to mind they all fall short.'_ A loud roar sounded and Hinata jumped slightly.

' _Was that a bear? How can there be bears in-'_ the roar sounded again interrupting her. "Dammit!" she cursed and looking at the foliage she got up. Now that she got a better look the plants they seem of the more jungle variety. She stood up hesitating, _'I could just be leading myself into danger.'_ However from what little she knew staying where she was, was also dangerous. Taking a breath of courage she ran into the jungle.

Bushes, trees, branches, flowers, all signs of a healthy ecosystem, _'Which shouldn't be possible a meteor would've flattened this and the explosion would've burned everything.'_ The more she thought on it the more crazy it seemed to become. A bush ahead of her rustled she stopped and clumsily assumed a karate stance. She was imitating what she had seen from movies, any fighter either with trainer or experience could've bashed through her defenses with ease. The bush rustled again and out of it came Sakura. Her clothes were torn, she staggered as she walked and one hand clutched her arm which was bleeding profusely. Hinata instantly ran to the girl, "Sakura! What happened." She looked at the arm. It looked broken as it swung almost uselessly.

Sakura was breathing heavy shaking breaths "I-I…" she swallowed, "M-Me and Ino we were walking." She took another shaky breath as Hinata pulled her to a chair and sat her down. "W-w-we were walking and then… some kind of monster came, it… it killed Ino! I tried to stop it but it threw me and I hit my arm!" She said her voice high and cracking. "I-I tried… it… it…" She was sobbing, her body rocking back and forth and her good hand clenched tightly on her arm. Hinata was stunned, someone was dead. Someone she knew that realization really stung. It also confirmed what she had been denying, they had survived the meteor… and probably were in the future where city life had been taken over by nature. She looked at Sakura who was still sobbing.

"Hey… look on the bright side you're alive right? Now all we need to do is search for more survivors." She said. Sakura sniffed, and rubbed her eyes which were still puffy.

She looked at Hinata her face sorrowful. "B-B-But w-what if we're the last ones alive?" She spluttered.

"Then we're the last at least let's look first." Hinata stubbornly stated.

"No need cavalry's here." A familiar voice said, the two turned Hinata's eyes widened in surprise.

"K-K-Kiba?" she gasped. Indeed it was Kiba but something was different the triangle marks on his face seemed bigger, he was shirtless and his pants were mere rags. His arms were tight and his fist were clenched into fists.

"So you're here too thought you were gone… By the way what happened to your eyes? Did you go blind?" he said, there was something strange about him then Hinata caught his last sentence.

"Wait what?" He looked at her again.

He then pointed to her face, "You're eyes are pure white," he said simply "But that's not really important." He muttered he looked at her pointedly again. "Nearly drove me crazy thinking you were dead." He looked at Sakura, "She's here too huh?" He nodded his head his jaw working slightly. "Well good news girls, we're free." He said to them.

Hinata raised an eyebrow, "Free?" it was a simple question.

Kiba threw his head back and laughed boisterously. "Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Yeah free! Free to do what we want, we won't have to worry about society, our parents, or other people or anything really! Anything goes!" he said his voice slightly pitched with madness. "And that means I get to do what I always wanted to do," his voice was low at this, even as he was lowering his gaze to Hinata and he took a step forward. She didn't know if it was the light or perhaps the first signs of paranoia, but Kiba seemed to be larger now.

"Hinata Hyuuga heiress of the Hyuuga family." He took another step a log under his foot creaked then split. "One of the best and brightest students of Konoha Highschool." His voice was gravely and bestial, even Sakura backed away but she didn't seem fearful oddly enough, just cautious. "And by far the most beautiful girl in school with a body that would look better on a whore." Fur was spreading across his body as his fingers became skeletal a boney muzzle forming and his eyes sinking into his skull. His face contorted the ears sliding up his head. He growled as he stood over her, she stared at him wide eyed unable to move, speak or do anything other than shudder as she tried desperately not to pee her pants.

He laughed, "Good this'll be easy then," he said he reached for her top and Hinata reacted finally.

"Get away!" She shouted and she slapped his hand instantly regretting it, _'Is that a hand or a block of cement!'_ she stepped back waving her hurting hand.

"You know this could've gone nice and simple, I take you back to my new place we fuck live happily ever after and maybe have some kids." Kiba growled as he raised both hands, a dog growl emerging from his throat. "But now we're gonna do this the hard and painful way!" he snarled and he leaped at her only for a cry to sound and from above something dove down and tackled Kiba!

Hinata this was her chance, she reached for Sakura grabbing her good arm and she turned and ran. "Let's go," she said and they were soon out of the reach of Kiba and this new monster.

"Graaaargh!" Kiba grabbed the other monster by the neck and threw it. The monster tumbled then righted itself and flew up flapping it's wings to hover. Kiba looked at his foe, it was a bird, it's arms were wings and it was covered in silver, black and gray feathers it's face was hidden under a curtain of long black hair that looked like feathers. The tore legging of pants could be seen covering bird like legs which had 5 talons that were currently curled into a type of fist. "So who the hell are you then? Huh? Naruto? Lee?" the creature shrieked at him. "If you want to die fine!" Kiba snarled and he held up his hands and the claws on his fingers extended. The bird monster flew at him and it's foot hit Kiba in the head. It was a powerful blow that felt like a punch than a strike from a bird. He staggered to the side from the blow.

' _The hell!? That wasn't just any other punch I've felt it once before!'_ he turned to see the bird diving at him one claw held out the other still cured into a fist. As it dived Kiba sprang to the side it flew up turned and dived him again. Kiba jumped each time his dog body maneuvering till they came to a clearing. He gritted his dog teeth in annoyance. _'I'm being led somewhere!'_ he quickly realized, _'If it wants to play then I'll play along!'_ and he jumped at it, only for the bird to outmaneuver the dog and kick his back sending him sprawling to the ground. But the dog beast got back up and jumped again only to get countered yet again this time with a flurry of blows to the face, a grab on the shoulders then a flip and throw into the ground. Kiba hit the ground hard his face slightly paving the dirt as he slid forward. He heard the sound of crumbling rock and raising his head he looked to see he was over a ledge that overlooked a ravine.

' _Fuck he's trying to kill me by dropping me!'_ he realized. He looked at the bird monster and snarled, _'maybe I just need to come at it faster!_ ' and he crouched down then he leaped up his body rocketing toward the bird. _'Too fast for you to do anything,'_ he gloated but the bird flew to the side till it ended up right next to him. The man dog growled as he soared past it, and in that moment he caught a glimpse of it's face. White eyes, and a beak that was twisted into a smug smirk, a very familiar smug smirk. "YOU!" Kiba shouted only for the bird to charge him and ram it's head into his chest the dog monster coughed blood. "You'll pay for this you bastard!" he shouted as he fell into a ravine. The bird monster landed on the ground and walked to the edge looking down it's sharp eyes narrowed in concentration, gave a satisfied screech it took to the air again.

 **-Naruto and Haku-**

Naruto gasped as he surface he grabbed a fallen tree and grunted as he pulled Haku up as well. He panted, "Well at least we didn't drown," He said, "Though that undercurrent nearly done us in." Haku grunted as he grabbed the tree as well.

The gangster looked to see a rock bank "Let's get to land." He suggested and the two climbed the tree back onto land. "Fuck he got my arm," Haku said when they stepped onto the rocky bank. Naruto looked to see a large gash in Haku's arm. "Here," and using his good arm he pulled out his knife. The blonde took it and began to cut off strips of clothing to stop the bleeding from the gangster's wounds. "You didn't have to do that you know," Haku muttered.

Naruto looked up at him confused. "Huh?" he grunted eloquently.

"Carry me like that," at this the blonde gave a small 'oh' and he went back to work.

After some silence Naruto rubbed the back of his head embarrassed, "Sorry I thought he hit your leg or something so I thought you wouldn't be able to move I was wrong." He said apologetically. He took the strips and tied them near Haku's shoulder making sure they were tight and secure to prevent bleeding. He gave back the knife, "So what's next?" he asked, but before Haku could answer there was an audible grumbling they were both silent.

Haku rubbed the back of his head, "I guess food," they looked at the river and Naruto went to the water thanks to his jacket's short sleeves he only had to roll them up slightly. He stood knee deep in the water one hand raised. He was silent then his hand was in and out of the water in one swift stroke.

He looked at his prize triumphant "Gotch-aaaaaahhhhhh!" Naruto jumped as the fish wriggled in his hand.

The gangster rolled his eyes, "What is it?" He said using the log to stand up.

Naruto looked at him horrified, "T-T-The fish! It has a face!" he said.

Haku slapped a hand to his face, "All animals have faces so what? What you feeling sorry for it? I didn't realize you were such a pussy bitch." Naruto glared at him.

"Do fishes have human faces?" He snarled, this stopped Haku.

"You can't be-" Naruto held up the fish to Haku, "Seriou-ahhhhhhhhh! What the fuck!" instead of a fishes face he was staring into something similar to a mans.

A it looked like a fish but there was a nose and the eyes were set like a humans not on the side, also at the top of it's head was gray hair that looked similar to a lion's mane and then it squealed. "Don't eat me! Don't eat me!" This caused Naruto to drop it in the water. They stood there silent then their stomach's rumbled again. "If I wasn't so hungry I would've lost my appetite." He said. "Let's look for something without a face like berries or something."

Naruto nodded, "Agreed." He said and the two went to the foliage to search. They looked around and as they did they gave a tentative sniff. Both could smell it, berries, they sniffed again and let their noses guide them to a bushel of berries. "Hmmm think this won't kill us?" he asked as they stared at the berries, they looked like blueberries but were significantly larger.

Haku looked at the berries, "Well only one way to find out," he said and he took one and ate it. He chewed on it then swallowed they waited several seconds. "Well I don't feel like throwing up or wanting to take a shit so I guess it's good." He confirmed.

The blonde nodded at that accepting the words, "Hmmm alright then," and Naruto began to take berries and eat them, they tasted like blueberries with a sour and sweet taste toward it. "Not fucking bad…" he said. As he chewed he finally decided to say something on his mind. "Have you noticed anything strange about the… wildlife here?" He asked.

The gang membered chewed a berry quietly then swallowed, "you mean that fish thing? If I were to guess that looked an awful lot like Gato he was the boss of a mob in south part of town." He said. "You seem to know that tiger thing too." He turned his head pointedly to the delinquent.

Naruto paused as he grabbed another berry then popped it in his mouth chewed and swallowed. "Yeah he's a teacher at my school hates my guts for no good reason." He said and he grabbed another berry. "I just don't care for school they don't teach you shit, I'm not the only one that does it either. But something up that fucker's ass makes him hate me for it. I can't deal with that type of crap." He said and he popped the berry in his mouth and ate it.

Haku observed him, "sorry if it's a sour subject…" He said, and he ate another berry.

The blonde sighed rolling his shoulders slightly then leaning back and looking up, "Earlier I was being chased by another monster… I think that might've been old man Ichiraku. Does that mean that everything we'll find that isn't a plant used to be human? Does that mean we'll be like that forever?" he asked.

Haku paused, "Dunno, this is some weird shit going on that's for sure," He said, "let's worry about that crap another time just eat." And Haku grabbed another berry. He was quite enjoying the berries as he stopped to chew he inhaled deeply and a smell rose to his nose. He sniffed and found the source a flower. He looked at then sniffed it then plucked it and ate a leaf. "Hmmm," it was a surprisingly tangy flavor. "Mmm… hey! Try this!" Haku said, Naruto looked at it, sniffed.

He raised an eyebrow, "Really?" he asked, Haku just shrugged Naruto snagged up a leaf, then he spat it out. "Ack!" he shook his head, "not for me," he said Haku shrugged and continued to eat the plant all the way down. Naruto shook his head, as he watched the gangster eat another flower. _'Guess he's pushing daisies.'_ Naruto thought and as he ate more berries he paused chewing and he inhaled through his nose and caught another smell. He sniffed and turned to see a large fruit that looked like a cantaloupe he swallowed and felt drool at his lips. He went to the tree and grabbed a the trunk and began to scale it. Only to slide down but he tightened his grip and slid to a stop though his fingers were raw. Shaking them briefly he resumed climbing the tree. He eventually got to the top of the tree and now looked at the fruit which hung on a branch as thick as his arm.

He licked his lip and slowly and carefully got on the branch, "Are you seriously trying to get that fruit?" Haku asked from down below.

Naruto glared at him, "Shut up, I'm concentrating!" and he turned his attention back to the fruit. He reached out with his hand for the fruit but his nails barely scratched it's surface. He withdrew his hand and inched closer, the branch groaned dangerously. He swallowed even as sweat began to fall from his face. Luckily his headband got the majority of the sweat. He reached out a hand again and his nails pulled it close enough that he could get purchase. But when he tried to pull the fruit the branch creaked and a loud snap sounded. "Uh oh…" was all Naruto could say before the branch split under his weight and he fell down to the ground his head bumping the branch painfully. He stood then fell back groaning as he clutched his head in agony.

Haku swallowed a flower and looked at Naruto pitifully. "Wow that was just really stupid." He said and he grabbed some berries and threw them in his mouth.

Groaning and rubbing his bump he sat up, "Gah that hurts," he looked for the fruit and saw it a few feet to his right. He grabbed it and lifted it up. It looked like a cantaloupe, yet when he sniffed it give a very sweet and nutty scent. He raised it and brought down on his knee, it hurt but the fruit split open juices spilling out a sweet, savory nutty smell exuding out of the light green flesh. He marveled at the fruit's insides then he took a bit. It was just as sweet and savory as it smelled. He quickly devoured the fruit licking the bare insides with his tongue to keep the flavor. "Oh man that was great!" He said, "But I could do with a few more of these berries." And he reached for a berry when he heard a rustle. Haku also stopped and the two stood up.

Naruto cracked his neck, "So we fight or run?" He asked, Haku rotated his good shoulder and reached into his pocket for his knife.

"Honestly I think we should get outta here who knows what we might fight. But let's see what we're up against first." He said and he grabbed the knife lightly. They watched the bushes rustle then something leapt out of it and the two stood their ground as it landed before them. They watched as it snarled and barked, It looked like a bizarre humanoid dog with thick white fur covering parts of its body, long straight black hair, a black furred tail that was bristled up at the base of its back, and trianglular shaped black ears at the side of its head. What really caught their attention was that it had breasts which seemed too large to be naturally possible. It snarled at them and reached out slashing with a clawed hand. The two fell back slightly as it growled at them.

The blonde observed the beast carefully, "Doesn't seem too tough and it's female," Naruto said he looked at Haku who was looking at it's face with a stern expression. "If anything seems scared of us." He added in.

Haku looked at the blonde, "What makes you say that." He asked.

Naruto nodded toward her, "I've seen wild animals, dogs, cats, even a coyote. She acts the way they do, right now she's putting up a front to protect something… most likely this her food supply." He informed, he pointed to the bush.

Haku looked at the beast again then he slowly began to move toward her. As he did she moved back growling even deeper but backing away slowly. She was in the bushes and so was he and what he saw made him realize who this was. "Tsunami…" he said.

The school delinquent appeared next to him, "Say what?" he asked. Haku pointed to a cave.

Naruto looked and he saw the female growling there but just behind her was what looked like a small boy that was sobbing and bawling. "Whose the kid?" he asked.

The gang member sighed then he looked at Naruto, "That's Inari… he's the son of a lady called Tsunami she works in a shop near my part of town… He's a bit of a crybaby but he's an ok kid when he's not crying. She's probably protecting and feeding him we should back off and leave them be." He said.

Naruto nodded and the two backed away slowly Tsunami didn't approach them just barked once. When they were out of sight she returned to her son. "Well that was different…" he said running a hand through his sun-kissed hair.

The gangster put a hand to his chin, "it seems that transformations can be to protect something too… curious." He said. Naruto blinked at that then he raised his hand looking at it.

He looked at the fingers wondering what they would look like as a monster. _'Becoming a monster to protect…'_ he was relieved that could be the case. "Does that mean we can turn into a monster?" he couldn't help but ask.

Haku put a hand to his head, "Ughhhh… maybe, fuck do I know?" he said, "Does it matter?" he asked.

Naruto shrugged, "I think if I transformed I would do it to protect someone rather than because I hate someone… I mean if I'm gonna be like that forever I'd rather protect than just mindlessly killing shit you know?" It was then he remembered, "Did you see her tits?" he asked.

Haku held up a warning hand, "Don't go there, there's plenty of other weird shit already. I don't need that added in." He said walking away even as the blonde smiled.

Naruto cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted, "Watermelons baby watermelons!" Haku just gave him the bird.

"You're an ass." Was the singular reply.

 **-Hinata and Sakura-**

Sakura walked to Hinata, "I think we lost them," she said. The two of them had been running away from the fighting monsters and they ended up in a type of grove with a pool of water in the center. Hinata had been staring at the pool of water looking at her face… or to be more exact, her eyes. Like Kiba said they were pure white, but she could see, she wasn't blind. She had splashed water, pinched her cheek, smacked herself and even dunk her head under the water for 10 seconds. But no matter what her eyes still were white.

Hinata sighed then she stood up, "We should find food," She said, "And something to carry the water." Sakura nodded and the two walked out of the grove to find something to eat.

The pinkette sighed then looked at Hinata, "S-So… what happened to Kiba you think?" she suddenly asked.

Hinata shook her head slightly, "I can only guess… the only thing I can think of right now is that the after effects of the meteor has caused humans and animals to somehow fuse together into some type of mutation… it raises the question of whether or not it could happen to us." Said the ever thinking heiress.

Sakura slowed slightly, "So by that logic… that means one of our classmates probably killed Ino." Hinata stopped walking… processing that single thought through her mind.

She took a shuddering breath as her heart began to thud in her chest, "Maybe… we don't know that for sure." She said.

Sakura stood in front of her and she turned to face her, "That means they're a murderer." She said. There was something ominous about her tone that made Hinata suddenly feel very afraid.

She stilled herself and let her mind take over, "Maybe turning into… that form brings out the worst in people, which could mean that bird thing fought Kiba to eat us… probably. I…" she paused her lower lip quivering slightly, "I don't want to talk about it." She said and she pushed forward. Sakura let her through and looked at fleeing heiress. She looked at her bloody arm and moved it up and down slightly wincing as it came to certain angles.

She looked at Hinata's back and she clenched her good hand into a fist. _'Brings out the bad side of people huh?'_ And she walked forward following Hinata.

The heiress had been walking to stop thinking but she couldn't, _'A murderer… somebody killed Ino... someone killed her.'_ It kept echoing in her head over and over like the thudding of her heart. She heard the sound of crunching and she stopped and looking around saw bushes that shook slightly, she went to a tree and hid behind it. She looked to see a small animal munching on leaves. Part of her wondered if that was also a human in the form of a monster animal. _'No if it was it'd be more… monstrous.'_ She reasoned, she needed something though to attack it. Part of her hated the idea of killing an animal to eat but she knew she had to, her stomach was begging for food. She found a arm thick branch and grabbed it. She lifted it up it weighed a bit but she could hold it, the weight would help with striking the killing blow.

Sakura walked up to her, "Found something?" She asked.

Hinata nodded, "over there," she whispered "it's eating the leaves." She said Sakura nodded and she stood to the heiress' side. Her hands were trembling but Sakura's hand on hers stopped the shaking and she tightened her grip. She mentally counted down, _'One… two… Three!'_ and she sprung and raised the branch and whacked the beast in the head. It gave a groaning cry as it fell onto it's side stubby legs shuddering as blood spurted from it's head. Hinata panted as it sounded in a call and she ranged the branch again. She tried to look away from it's face and eyes not wanting to see the desperate struggle for life when something stopped her, a voice.

"Stop it…" she froze she looked to see that it's mouth was open and as she looked she recognized certain facial features. "Stop… don't… kill me…" she stepped back horrified, and the branch fell out of her hands.

Sakura came forward, "What's up?" She asked, then she looked at the creature. "So what's the problem?" She asked.

Hinata looked at her utterly shocked by this question. "What's the-!? That's… that's a person!" She said, "I'm not gonna eat a person!" She shouted, "That's cannibalism!" She stared to hyper ventilate but she turned away to try and slow her breathing.

Sakura went to the face even as the man-creature started to whimper. It looked like a rather small obese cow however the face was bringing memories. Originally he had been a giant Sakura knew this but the name was escaping her, "Hmmmm isn't this that one kid… what's his name?" She began to snap her fingers to try and remember, "Bu… Buchi? Burachi? Busami?" she then smacked her knee. "Burami! Yeah!" she said.

Hinata was breathing shuddering breaths she kept breathing then she closed her eyes, sighed and opened them. "I don't know though the name does sound familiar." She said, "Might've heard it once or twice." She turned appearing calm.

Sakura looked at the heiress. "So what're we gonna do with him?" She asked.

The white eyed girl didn't even take a second to think it, "we're leaving," she said, "We'll find some berries or something to eat. I'm not eating a person." She stated stubbornly and she walked away.

Sakura watched her go then looked at Burami, "I'll be back for you later." She said in a low dangerous tone and she stood up and followed Hinata again.

Hinata despite herself wasn't calm still, she was still remembering seeing that face, the fear… the meat. _'The hell is wrong with me!?'_ she felt herself slipping back into her old self, the part of her that her father had practically banished with his ferocious and pitiless lessons of life. It was the 'her' that was once a normal girl. The 'her' she wanted to partially bring back just so she could have some sense of normalcy in her life.

Sakura was quickly catching up, "Hey Hinata!" but the girl ignored her, "Hinata slow down!" again she was ignored.

' _If he was like that then does that mean everything here is like that too? A ant? A mosquito? A bird? A fish? All of it used to be a human being? Does that mean everything I'll eat will be some innocent bystander? Am I doomed to be a cannibal?'_ and it continued in her mind. _'Why am I even still considering this sickening notion?'_ then she felt the hand on her shoulder.

Sakura grabbed Hinata's shoulder and turned her around, "Hey slow down!" She shouted Hinata started then she blinked.

The heiress looked at her classmate. "Oh S-Sakura I'm sorry I… I guess I kinda lost track of time." She said.

The pink haired girl raised an eyebrow, "More like you lost track of where you are." She said.

Hinata looked around and found she was in the middle of tree's and vines, "Oh so I did." She said somewhat meekly. But as she looked she saw fruits, and she recognized the leaves of certain plants that we used for salads. "Well on the plus side I found us food." She said.

Sakura looked around, "Oh yeah this is edible, hmmm good thing I got this," she said and she pulled up the stick "Use it to knock the fruit out of the tree." Hinata nodded and grabbing it she poked the fruit it shook and she prodded it even harder jabbing it hard. The fruit creaked then the small twig holding it up snapped and it fell down. Hinata quickly threw aside the stick and grabbed the fruit and she fell to the ground as a result. "Ooooh oh! You ok!" Sakura asked bending to the fallen heiress.

Hinata spluttered as she raised her head from the grounds she gently patted her face to see if anything was broken, her nose stung and she touched it again to receive a sharp stab of pain she touched underneath it and felt blood. "I-I think I broke my nose." she said.

Sakura lowered herself, "Oh yeah you're nose is crooked… want me to try and fix it? It's gonna hurt." Hinata knew that with her nose broken she woulnd't be able to smell that good specially with the blood. But trying to fix it would hurt like hell, ultimately though she would have to bear the pain. She nodded and Sakura reached with one hand gently placing it on her nose and gave a quick pull. It was excruciating, she felt like Sakura had ripped her nose right off her face. She screamed at the pain and panted as she tried to cope with it eyes closed to focus on mitigating the intense pain. She rolled onto her back as she coped with the pain.

Even as she panted she tried to reassure herself. _'I-It's ok your nose is back to normal at least just suck it up.'_ But no matter how hard she tried to it was an uphill battle. Tears streamed out of her eyes as she gingerly touched her nose. "Ow…" She moaned quietly eventually she got to her knees she winced with pain as she inhaled with her nose. Hinata opened one teary eye to look at her. "Didn't you want to become a doctor originally?" She asked suddenly remembering this detail.

Sakura shrugged, "Paramedic actually but it's a tough job to get into so I wanted to try something simple." She said, as Hinata nodded closing her eye again the pinkette's good hand twitched.

After a while Hinata opened her eyes as the pain lessened enough for her to observe her catch, she grabbed the fruit looking with slightly stinging eyes the outer skin was soft but she couldn't open it with her hands. "I-I think it needs to get a good whack." She said.

Sakura nodded, "Way ahead of you," She said and she held up the stick. Hinata held it out turning her head to the side, the pinkette swung the stick and it split the fruit in half juices spurting out and spilling onto the ground. Hinata felt the blow and noted the extreme force of the strike. She held out one piece to Sakura who took it and ate it. "Mmmm nice and sweet," she said happily. The heiress sighed in relief and took a bite. She froze and spat it out, whatever Sakura had said it tasted vile, like eating vomit. "What's up with you?" asked the pink haired girl.

Hinata looked at her, "I dunno about you but that tasted awful." She said and she tossed the piece of fruit to the side. "My half must've been rotten or something." The heiress complained and she grabbed the stick to get another fruit. A poke out of the tree and smashing it open and she took another bite only to spit it out again. This fruit tasted the same as the other fruit, _'What's going on?'_ she couldn't understand it. She then turned to the plant that she knew was edible and pulled out some of the leaf and bit into it, she barely chewed when she spat it out with contempt. _'What the hell…'_ she began to go from plant to plant biting it only to spit it out again and again and again! _'Why… why is this happening to me!?'_ she loved vegetables, salad was her number 1 favorite food and yet she couldn't handle not even the taste of a plant. _'Does that mean… I have to meat?'_ and she shuddered repulsed instantly for even considering it.

But she couldn't just starve, she had to eat something. She tapped her chin, then she looked at Sakura who had just finished eating. "Let's see if there's more survivors." She said and she walked forward. The pink haired girl stood up and followed Hinata and while the heiress had her back to her she rotated her bad arm which did so smoothly. However she still winced in pain slightly, she then looked at Hinata and smiled slightly before following her.

 **-Naruto and Haku-**

The two were walking down the river, Naruto turned his head slightly to Haku. "So how did you get in the gangs anyway?" He asked.

The gangster was silent, "I was saved by the former boss." He said quietly.

The blonde tapped his chin trying to remember, "You mean Zabuza right? Didn't he die thanks to some rival gang?" he asked.

Haku sighed and shook his head, "Nah it's best to explain what happened. When I was young like 8 I got kicked out of my house by my alcoholic dad and my drug pumping mom. I basically lived in the streets since then eating left overs and other shit. Then one day I tried picking out of Zabuza's pocket for some money. He found me and I thought he was gonna kill me. Instead he took me in and fed me, clothed me, and other shit. He told me he didn't cause I looked like some type of dog." He was silent for a while. "I didn't mind, he taught me stuff how to steal better, how to fight and defend myself. I was with him ever since then 5 years later I got dragged away by the cops after a steal went wrong. I thought I was going to Juvie but I found out my dad and mom got divorced and my mom was dating a new guy and wanted me to come home. I refused, and I was thrown in jail for about a year. When I got out my mom tried to bribe me back." He shook his head disgusted, "I couldn't believe the shit she was trying to pull. So I told her, 'You threw me out when I was a kid, and now you want me to be a family again? Fuck you, if you try this shit I'll ghost your ass.' And walked away, she didn't try to get back in contact with me since then." The gangster said.

Naruto blinked, "Dude she's your Mom." He said, "I can't speak for myself since my mom died when I was too young to remember but if it were me I would've tried to at least give it a try." He said.

Haku shook his head, "Maybe you would've I wouldn't though she threw me out and didn't try to get in touch with me till years later. Then when I refused it the first time she had them throw me in Juvie, then when I got out she tried to bribe me with money. Does that sound like a mom?" he asked.

Naruto held up a hand shaking it slightly then dropping it, "No not really no." he finally admitted.

Haku gave a 'hmph' and continued, "Anyway one day Zabuza just upped and vanished, nobody knows where. He did it after a raid with a rival gang so I guess that's why people think he's dead. Anyway when he left it left things a right mess. They talked about me taking over but I refused, so they began to start arguing over who should lead… which is why I decided to head to your part of town." He said, "Bad day to do that in the end. Get obliterated by a fucking meteor. Not a good way to go." He muttered.

Naruto though held up a finger, "Um we didn't go we're still alive quite obviously." He said. "Anyway let's not get into it I don't like thinking." He grumbled. The two kept walking.

Haku then looked at him pointedly "Maybe we're not alive maybe we're in Hell." He paused for a response and got none, finally decided to change the subject. "So what's your story?" he asked the blonde.

Said blonde stopped, "What do you mean?" He asked his voice suspicious.

The gangster waved a hand still walking, "As in what's your deal? I've heard of you, you like to brawl but you don't hang out in the gangs, and you cause trouble nearly every day in your school yet you do have some brains when you put your mind to it." He said.

Naruto walked up and grabbed Haku's shoulder spinning him around, "Who the fuck told you that shit?" he snarled.

The gangster chuckled, "You wouldn't believe what you hear from students during Lunch, you know the ones that go to restaurants and stuff? There's one girl who talks a lot about you though forgot her name but she has long hair and black eyes." Naruto, who had raised his eyebrow at the girl, frowned when he heard the description.

"Dude that makes up like half the girls in my school," He said "A two year old would have better description than you." he grumbled. "Anyway I don't want to go into it." He said and he started walking again.

"Aw come on I poured out my story why not give me one in return, eh?" Haku said holding up his hand graciously.

Naruto sighed, "I didn't ask for it… but whatever… I guess I just don't know what I want. I hate school but I want a good job, I don't like listening to people but I have to in school, I don't like thinking but I have to if I wanna meet my goals… I'm just… I dunno fucked up I guess." He said.

"Sounds to me you don't know what kind of a person you are," Haku said, "Your lost." He stated.

The delinquent blonde rubbed his hair. "Yeah I guess I am." He said.

Haku nodded quietly, "Dude it happens, when I was a kid I didn't know where I wanted to be or what I wanted to do. I kinda still don't now but I know I want to live to the fullest even if it means beating someone or taking their money. Shit like pity or regret I feel but I don't really got time for it. Just keep going and you'll find what you want to do with your life." He said rather sagely.

"Wow look at you, Guru Haku, next thing we know you'll have discovered your own religion." Naruto teased.

"No, no, that's my goal when I get to a ripe old age." And the two laughed at that.

Naruto then made a mock praying pose "I have just converted to Hakuism, I am ready to serve the great Haku!" he said in a mocking monk like voice.

Haku held up a hand, "Haku requires no servants, but he lives to serve, to acquire knowledge through perseverance, patience and diligence." Naruto gave a snorting chuckle.

"You just said the same word three different ways." He said.

"Oh shit you're right," and both were now laughing hard so hard that Naruto even coughed slightly.

He tried to stop but still giggled slightly, then he sighed as he looked up at the sky and rubbed his blonde hair, "Damn… man I wish we knew where we were." He said.

Haku had also slowly stopped laughing as the question sobered him. He looked around then he turned, "Hey look there's a mountain." He said pointing with his good hand at, yes indeed, a mountain.

Naruto looked up at the mountain, "Shit man we'd never make it to the top." Considering the mountain tip touched the clouds it was likely that oxygen got very scarce near the top.

"We don't have to make it to the top just high enough to see where the fuck we are right?" said the gangster.

The blonde rubbed his chin, "You're right… oh screw it let's try," he said and the two began to try and find a way to get to the mountain base.

 **-Sakura and Hinata-**

Hinata and Sakura pushed through some bushes, "Ugh…" groaned the white eyed girl, and she placed a hand on her stomach which was starting to get hunger pains.

The pinkette looked at her colleague, "You ok?" She asked, a nod was her only response and they kept walking. "We should find a place to sleep for a bit." She suggested.

Hinata nodded more out of agreement than any need to rest, "Yes a cave would be our best choice as long as something else isn't in it already." She said, and they kept walking, they eventually came to a slight clearing. After some searching they spotted a slight rise in the landscape forming into a slight rocky hill and near it's base was a cave entrance.

Sakura whistled, "Whoa found one on our first try," she said, "Let's go and see if it's-" but then a loud shrieking cry called out. They both turned to see the bird monster again! "Go for the cave!" Sakura shouted and the two ran as fast they could. Sakura ran with speed she had never shown before, Hinata however could barely run her lack of food was hitting her hard. She got halfway when her feet faltered and she tripped. The beast cried out again and dived it's claws outstretched. "Get away!" Sakura shouted, she had stopped to see Hinata hand fallen and grabbing a rock she threw it. The rock sailed at the creature and impacted on it's face. The rock dug into it and it gave a gurgling caw as the rock penetrated it's eye! It turned to Sakura growling and it dived, "Fuck me!" she groaned and she dove down just to avoid it's attempt to grab her.

Hinata groaned as she pushed herself up, and watched as the bird fly up her and turn around to dive again she then shouted, "Sakura! Back into the woods!" The pinkette ran toward her in response, and she grabbed Hinata pulling her up with surprising strength considering she was using one arm.

As they ran Sakura looked at her, "That's not gonna help!" she panted, "It'll just start going from branch to branch to branch! We need to lose it permanently!" They were in the woods pushing through branches and bushes hastily. Hinata glanced left and right but found nothing when she grabbed onto a bush however she gave a cry of pain as she felt something dig into her skin. She stopped and saw thorny foliage to her right she quickly bent down and saw some space to crawl through.

She raised a hand to Sakura, "Over here!" She shouted pointing to the thorny foliage her classmate stopped then looked at the bushes and nodded. The two got down and crawled underneath as best they could. When they were under a good thick brush of thorns, they flipped onto their backs to see what they could out of the thorny branches. They heard the wing beats and both of them slowed their breathing, minutes passed as they heard the bird creature moving, and they briefly saw it above them on a branch looking around. However as time passed a sense of safety filled them, the adrenaline draining out of them and their eyes began to droop, and within minutes they had fallen asleep.

 **-Naruto and Haku-**

The blonde wiped his sweaty forehead with his equally sweaty arm. "Ugh finally we made it to the base of this mountain." He looked at the gangster, "How's your arm?" he asked.

Haku raised it and lowered it slightly, "Better but I'm not risking making the injury bad again, anyway we should start climbing." And with a nod of agreement the two began to climb. Some small rocks rolled to their feet from above they looked at the rocks then up but saw nothing. They looked at each other then shrugged, and it was in that instant a large clawed hand erupted from Haku's chest. Time slowed to a crawl as they looked at the claw. Then blood shot out of his mouth. Naruto moved and he saw standing there Mizuki a dark triumphant grin on his face. The blonde reached into Haku's pocket as he got close and pulled out the knife and then he opened it and stabbed it into tiger monsters eye. Time resumed as Mizuki screamed in pain and he kicked Naruto away.

The blonde skidded across the ground painfully as Mizuki grabbed the knife but howled even louder when Haku threw his head back with what little strength he had and drove the knife even deeper! The man monster threw his arm and Haku slid off with sickening squelch and flew into Naruto who was pushed into the ground. But he didn't care as he got up and looked at the gang member who was already gasping like a fish out of water. "No, no!" Naruto looked around not sure what to do and too stunned to do anything.

Haku reached for the blondes collar and grabbed it a bloody smile on his lips. "Nothing you can do man… mng… I'm gone already."

Naruto was clenching his free hand into a fist, "NO! You're not we can fix this somehow! I know we can I just-! I just gotta-!" but he had no idea what he had to do. "Dammit I can't let you die because of me!" He muttered gripping the progressively chilly hand.

At this a gurgling laugh came out of Haku, "Yo-you're starting to talk like it's your fault… fuck…" he coughed again blood splattering Naruto's chest and neck. "Listen man… I haven't…" he swallowed even as he tightened his grip and pulled Naruto down, "I want you to know something… I had a good time… probably the best time in my life," he swallowed again, the blonde didn't move just listened eyes closed trying to stop the tears from coming. As the two had their heart to heart Mizuki was busy trying to remove the knife from his eye. The process was excruciating as he had been hit in a vulnerable area never would he have thought someone would attack his facial area. But someone had and when this knife was out he'd make sure it wouldn't happen again.

Haku was trying to breathe but it was hard, "Traveling with you… was awesome… I'm just sad I won't be with you… to-!" and he coughed again then he inhaled a few times though all that happened was blood spurting into the hole he had. "I won't be with you… when you figure out what the fuck is going on here." Naruto grabbed the hand holding his collar and gripped it tightly. "You… are probably… the-nkt! The best friend I've ever h-had i-in my l-life." It was getting hard to speak his lips were twitching even as the muscles in his face began to seize up. He gripped Naruto even harder, "I-I w-want you t-to d-do something f-for m-me…" he gasped.

Naruto tightened his grip, "whatever you want…" He said quietly it was the only thing he could say.

Haku smiled, and he swallowed again to stop the tide of blood in his throat. "I-If y-you m-meet Zabuza… h-here… t-tell him…" he coughed blood splattering Naruto's cheeks. "T-Tell him… I'm… s-s-sorry…" and his voice cracked slightly at this, "I'm sorry… f-for not… for not l-l-living u-u-up… to his…" and his voice was a whisper now. "To his… standards…" tears were flowing from the blondes eyes dripping onto Haku even as his body began to stiffen then relax as the life faded from him.

The ground shook as Mizuki approached in his hand was the knife which had his eyeball on it. His face set in a growl. "You little shit, I'm gonna kill you slowly you won't get off as easily as that scum bag did. I think I'll peel your skin off with this very blade!" and he raised the knife high and thrust it down. Before it could reach Naruto the boy raised his head and Mizuki froze petrified with fear. Staring at him was a pair of red eyes with slit pupils and Naruto's teeth were bared revealing fangs, he stood up growling and gave a roar, the strange markings on his cheek were suddenly broad and black. The snapping of bones could be heard as Naruto began to change. "No!" Mizuki had unfroze and thrusted the knife only for his hand to be grabbed and a fist get slammed into his face his bones bending at the impact as the fist pressed against his face and then he was sent flying then rolling back.

Naruto was giving long huffs, then he groaned as he felt his body burn and his skin squirmed, his arms began to lengthen and his legs did too both limbs gaining mass as well powerful muscles forming his pants ripping under the strain. His torso began to stretch first in width then in height his undershirt shredding and his jacket also tearing slightly, reddish orange fur began to sprout all along his body, covering what was exposed. His ears sunk into his head but above them near the top of his skull two more appeared, large, long slightly rounded ears similar to that of a fennec foxes. His hair stood up and gained a reddish tinge near the tips. He growled as his arms began to morph and suddenly bone began to rise up the upper arm and the back of the hand and wrist. Then he gave a roar as from his rear 3 tails sprouted out slick with fluids but quickly shaking themselves dry to reveal thick furry fox tails also reddish orange.

There was a final snap and Naruto fell forward but caught himself by punching his fists into the ground. He huffed like a wild beast even as Mizuki stood up rubbing his face which was slightly caved in. The former teacher narrowed his eyes, _'Such power… and he has just transformed…'_ and that made him smirk. _'Perfect I'll eliminate him all the easier.'_ And he began to walk to Naruto, the new fox-like monster man stood up and glared at Mizuki, he stood at equal height now, having grown 2 feet taller and he opened his hands revealing the claw-like nails he had. Mizuki looked at the claws then held up his own hand. He had to admit losing his eye was a serious blow it was affecting his depth perception slightly but even with this handicap Naruto would be nothing more than playtime.

Naruto was currently rage and muscle while Mizuki had time and practice in his new form he knew it's tricks and how to manipulate it for very high damage but he was sure it had more secrets buried within. He charged Naruto who swung a claw but Mizuki ducked and closed his claw into a fist and punched Naruto. The new born monster coughed as the punch sunk into his muscular abdomen his feet leaving the floor and then the tail appeared and flicked forward. However Naruto raised a hand, Mizuki smirked thinking he had one but his eyes widened when his blade hit the bone protrusions on the boy's hand which sunk in slightly before stopping in the bone. But the Tiger wasn't done and he raised his other hand grabbing the fox's face and hefted him up and slammed his body into the ground. He released Naruto to see that the new monster was still eyes closed.

"I think I'll first have an 'eye for an eye' first, however I'll take both!" And Mizuki thrusted his fingers toward the boy's eyes only for the boy's face to give a loud crack and suddenly his mouth opened inhumanly large. The skin of his cheeks peeled back to reveal the rows of sharp teeth. Mizuki tried to pull his hand back when Naruto pushed himself up and closed on the man-tigers hand. A howl emerged from the tiger's throat as the teeth crunched down with almost more force than an alligator bite! It became apparent that if the fox even jerked his head it would most assuredly rip his hand off. So Mizuki placed his other hand on Naruto's head his muscles bugling to hold it still when he felt a powerful fist in his gut! It followed by another one this one stronger than before. _'Fuck! I miscalculated how could he be so knowledgeable when he's just fighting like an animal!?'_ Then another fist hit his gut and he felt part of his body explode. He gasped and then raising his other hand he punched Naruto on the nose. The fox released his hand, the nose a sensitive part of his body Mizuki staggered back gripping his badly mangled hand. "This is impossible! He shouldn't be this aware!" He saw Naruto's mouth close and a loud snapping sound when he did. Then his mouth parted into a snarl and the fox began to advance on him slowly. Mizuki stepped backward fearful.

Naruto hissed, and he began to run toward the tiger who took another step back faltered, then look down behind him. "Oh shit!" and he turned but a fist was raised and then it was thrown hitting his nose and pushing him back and off the mountain range into the river below that Naruto and Haku had crossed earlier to reach the mountain. Naruto went to the edge of the range and looked down growling but all he saw was a red river. He raised his head, thrusted out his chest and gave an echoing roar of triumph. It went on for 10 seconds then he lowered himself, panting and as he did a short flush of steam emitted from his body and in the cover his body snapped and cracked back to normal.

Back in his human form Naruto was on his knees his hands on the ground his body covered with sweat, and his clothes torn but still on his body. He could taste blood, and he also felt pain in his body especially his back. He groaned and rolled onto his back. "What… what the hell just happened?" He asked himself yet he couldn't figure out what it was. When he put a hand to his head to remember all he could remember was blinding anger, and the desire to destroy. "That was just before- oh man…" he got up and looked to see Haku's dead body. "Fuck… fuck!" Naruto raised his arms walking away not wanting to see the body. He paced, he turned to the body slowly, unwillingly looked at the corpse then he groaned and walked back. He knelt down putting a hand on the corpse and then he grabbed some rocks and began to dig a grave for Haku. It was agonizing and long work taking an hour to dig, when the hole was dug he stripped Haku of the majority of his clothes and placed him in the hole before covering it with the dirt and rocks. Naruto looked around and saw the knife with Mizuki's eyeball still attached, he grabbed the knife and flicked the eyeball off.

He then closed the knife put it in his pocket and left Haku's shirt and pants on his grave holding it down with a stone, he then pulled off his tattered remains and slid on Haku's jacket and turned to the mountain. "I'll climb it for both of us." Nauto said and he began his long climb.

 **-Hinata and Sakura-**

Hinata and Sakura opened their eyes as they heard the loud roar of a beast, it echoed from a way off yet it was still close enough that they could hear it. The sound sent a shiver of fear down both of their spines. They nearly sat up but stopped just short of the sharp thorns. Very slowly they lowered themselves. "Do you think the bird thing is there?" Hinata asked for some reason her vision was blurred slightly.

Sakura shrugged, "Dunno don't think so but there's only one way to find out." She said and the two very slowly turned onto their stomachs. The white-eyed heiress' grumbling when she did so. She felt even hungrier than before her starvation was probably why her eyesight was off. Sakura poked her head out first and looked around she didn't see the bird, "Coast is clear let's go." And she slid out and got up, turning she waited for Hinata to come out. When the starving girl did the two resumed their pursuit of the cave. Sakura walked briskly while Hinata walked slowly staggering slightly. She knew hunger could cause weakness but she had only been hungry for a few hours she shouldn't be having such painful effects this quickly. "Come on hurry up!" Sakura called, Hinata picked up her pace and when she was inside the cave she flopped onto the ground gratefully. "Wow you're really feeling it huh?" Sakura asked, "Didn't even check to make sure the cave was empty." She noted. The heiress just gave a low moan.

Sakura looked at the weakened state of the heiress she didn't say anything just sat down facing away from her. Hinata though was having a small argument with herself. _'Sooo hungry… I want to eat… but I'm not gonna eat a person…'_ her reasonable part whined.

However a dark voice emerged speaking in a whisper, _'But they aren't people anymore are they? They're just animals… mutant animals… eating animals is fine, you've eaten beef, that's a cow. A pork chop is a pig and soooooo much more.'_ It chuckled as it finished.

Her reasonable part steeled itself, _'We can eat other stuff! Fruit and what not Sakura could so why can't we!'_ it snapped.

The dark part chuckled, _'Isn't is strange? Not only could she eat that fruit no problem but she managed to break it quite easily with her left hand which last we checked isn't her dominant hand. Speaking of how's her wounded arm? A wound like that should take several weeks to heal but look at it now.'_ Hinata turned her gaze to Sakura and saw the girl leaning on her 'injured arm' humming to herself. She didn't flinch, or hold it up to prevent strain. _'Looks like it's fully healed isn't it? And what's the story behind Ino? How did Ino die exactly? Why didn't Sakura describe the monster if she saw it attack Ino? Did a monster attack her? If it did who was the monster?'_ and it was then that the questions began to pile on. _'She healed very quickly… where did she see Ino… why wasn't she scared of Kiba… why did she seem fine around Busami...'_ and it was then she remembered something Sakura said, _'By that logic that means they're a murderer.'_ The word murderer echoed in her head till she sat up and looked at Sakura.

She then stood up and walked to Sakura. "So how exactly did Ino die?" She asked.

Sakura was silent then she lowered her head. "I-I don't want to talk about it." She said.

Hinata walked infront of her and sat down glaring, "I do, you must've seen it, how did the monster kill her?" She demanded.

The pink haired girl slid back slightly, "I said I don't want to talk about it?" She said again an edge in her voice.

However the heiress pursued, "And why is that?" she prodded.

Sakura began to sweat now, "B-Because it's a traumatic experience!" She said.

Hinata's glare hardened, "In that case talking about it is the best way to recover from a traumatic experience unless there's something you're hiding from me?" she shot angrily.

The pink haired girl stood up, "W-What do I have to hide?" she said just as angrily.

The heiress stood up as well but wobbled at the sudden change in stance, "I'm not stupid Sakura. I've noticed things, like your arm, it's fully healed isn't it? Rather quickly for a broken arm." She said pointing to Sakura's bloodied arm, which was coated with dry blood that was moistening thanks to the pink haired ones sweat. "Also when you broke that fruit open you did it quite easily with your left hand. I know for a fact your dominant hand is your right but you couldn't use your right it'd show that it heal, which would be unusual for a broken bone. Also your left hand is your weaker so it should've taken at least 3 strikes to split it open yet you did it in one." Sakura clenched her hands into fists, "Also when Kiba transformed you didn't seem surprised that he did. In fact you seemed to be expecting it. So then here's the big question have you transformed and if you did what exactly did you do when you were? Did you go nuts… or did you know what was happening?" Sakura had lowered her head, he faced shadowed by her pink hair. "Did you kill Ino… by accident? Or… on purpose?" came the scathing question.

Sakura chuckled then she began to clap her hands and went into a full on hollow laughter. "I gotta admit, I thought being starved half to death would've dulled your brain but instead it made it sharper. So then I guess I have a short story to tell." She said. "Your right I did transform but that was after I met Ino.

 _ **-Sakura's Awakening-**_

 _ **Sakura groaned as she pushed herself to her feet. "I-I'm alive?" She looked around trying to find Ino but didn't see her instead all she saw was the forest that seemed to be everywhere around her. Some plants she recognized while others she had no idea what they were but knew they wouldn't be out of place in a rain forest. Ignoring that she cupped her hands over her mouth and shouted, "Ino!" she waited for a response but got nothing. She rubbed her hands unsure of what to do, then realized she could only do one thing and that was start moving. And so she began to walk through this unknown environment wondering where she was exactly.**_

 _ **She wringed her hands nervously as a sudden realization hit her, 'What if there are wild animals here?' and with that she began to slowly move forward taking care to hide behind objects and peeking out before moving again. As she approached a tree she heard a whimpering sobbing. She flattened her back against the tree then very slowly, with as much caution as possible she poked her head out. She was relived to see Ino, though her friend was… naked her clothes utterly gone and before her was… a student. She didn't know who it was but recognized the uniform for a boy. She walked to Ino, "Ino thank god I found you what happened?" the sobbing girl looked at her, and the blondes eyes widened with fear.**_

 _ **She staggered back, "Get away from me!" she shouted.**_

 _ **Sakura stopped confused, "Ino? It's me Sakura what's going on? I'm not gonna hurt you or anything." But the green eye was wide with fear the pupil dilating wildly.**_

 _ **Ino stood up, "You won't kill me! I won't let you! I'll kill you first!" and it was then that Sakura witnessed the most bizarre thing in her entire life. Ino's body began to grow, but as it did her body morphed. The skin near her jaw split so that she had large open mouth, her teeth grew as well becoming flat rows with her upper and lower front teeth becoming bucked, while from her lower jawline large slightly serrated tusks and her skin began to thicken. Ino's breast seemed to do the opposite sinking into the skin shrinking till they became small nubs.**_

 _ **Sakura stepped utterly horrified, "I-Ino!?" She gasped but the changes didn't stop out of her back her sprouted a line of hair with curved rows looking like her body had blades covering her upper back. Then from her upper and lower wrist a nub of skin formed then began to harden into a hoof like protrusion however the inside of the hoof was hollow the final changes that occurred was near Ino's face where her nostrils turned up like a pig's snout and her green-blue eyes stared at Sakura, she scuffed her feet. Ino stood massive, and panting hotly. "Oh my god…" Sakura could only say dumbly.**_

 _ **Ino lowered herself the hooves closing over her closed fists. "I'll kill you before you kill me!" She panted and gave a pig-like squeal and charged. Sakura screamed and she jumped to the side however Ino caught her hand with a tusk and a large gash split her skin open like peeling an orange. The pink haired girl spun to the ground gripping her bloodied right arm screaming shrilly as she saw the muscle and blood spilling out of her wildly. Ino grunted as she turned and scuffed her front hooves. "I don't want to die! So you have to!" She babbled wildly her eyes rolling wildly in their sockets.**_

 _ **Sakura gritted her teeth biting her lip to ignore the pain and she ran to tree but knew it wouldn't provide the cover she needed. She heard the trampling footsteps and ran heading for another tree, but her rapid blood loss was blurring her vision and she stumbled as she ran to another tree. But she barely had time to catch her breath when she heard the tree she had been hiding behind earlier shatter as Ino plowed through it. She heard the monster girl snort and grunt like a wild pig and heard it snuffle. Sakura pushed herself off running again this time heading for a large bush. She dove down and got underneath and began to crawl. When she was underneath she turned to look behind her. She once again hear a tree get obliterated thanks to another charging attack by Ino.**_

 _ **Sakura panted and hoped that Ino wouldn't see the blood that was turning the ground crimson. She swallowed breathing in through her nose briefly and in that brief intake of breath she realized there was a smell in the air. She looked at her bleeding arm and sniffed again, the smell of blood. She turned back onto her front and crawled it a timely maneuver as Ino drew close then after some snuffling squealed, got onto her hind legs, her front raised and came down on the bush flattening it, just as Sakura got out. The scared girl got to her feet and ran again seeing a large rock she homed in on it determined to get behind it.**_

 _ **But Ino had seen her and gave a squealing cry scuffing the ground with her hoof and she charged. Sakura glanced back and the terrible thought of her being squished against the rock and reduced to meaty paste filled her. The action sent a burst of adrenaline through her body quickly nullifying the pain in her body and she gave a yell as she ran toward the rock and she reached out for it her fingers scraping the air. They touched the rock and she pulled herself up and to the side and spun around as her back hit the rock. The rock shuddered violently and a loud crunch sounded. She panted heavily the taste of blood reaching her tongue though there wasn't any blood. She swallowed then slowly turned, Ino was lying on her side her body twitching and convulsing as she laid there, a large wound on her skull blood pouring out of it.**_

 _ **Sakura held her breath, fearing the worst despite the situation, 'I-Is she…? Dead?' she looked into the boar's eyes and knew otherwise, the eyes were focused on her and burning with that rabid fear that was motivating her so. 'I-I have to know her unconscious! Yes if I do that… I can get away!' and she looked around and saw a large, moss covered stick, the adrenaline was still pumping through her and she grabbed it with her good hand and lifted the end then swung it around. The stick hit Ino in the head breaking off halfway. She squealed loudly and Sakura, the stick now lighter raised it high then began to bludgeon the boar. Each time she swung she did it with more force than the last. The stick was breaking, it's entire body crimson. Sakua kept swinging though till she heard the sickening 'splat!' She stopped the stick clenched tightly in her hand.**_

 _ **Hollow, shuddering breaths… however the breaths were too heavy, and even as she released the stick she knew something was horribly, horribly wrong. She stepped back her eyes focusing on Ino, whose head was utterly demolished a bloody mess. Sakura turned to avoid looking but her body swung like a pendulum and she nearly tripped, her feet thudding on the ground. 'What…? Why am I so…?' she grabbed a tree and felt her hand wrapping around the whole trunk. She paused then looked at her hand, a massive furry hand.**_

Sakura stood there, then she held up her formerly injured hand. "I wanted to help people to cure them… I was trying to protect myself from a monster… and in the end I became a monster myself." She then looked at Hinata her pupils contracting, "And if Ino, me, and Kiba could become monsters… that means you can too so I'm sorry but I'm gonna have to kill you. I don't want to die… and this new world it's a dog eat dog world now." Hinata could barely follow it, her mind was spinning and her stomach growling demanding for food. But she could see Sakura's body changed, it wasn't immediate but it was quite fast. Her arms began to bulge with muscles and her body grew close-set fur appearing on her body covering her arms, breasts, and lower regions. It was then steam erupted from her body covering her as loud snapping and crunching sounded. After several seconds a large hairy arm emerged hand spread open then clenched into a fist and slammed on the ground causing the cave to shudder dangerously.

Then from the steam emerged a monster. It looked like a giant gorilla with thick fur that covered it's chest and groin while the arms and legs had closer set fur. It's muscles were powerful and large bulging with even the slightest of movement and stood a good 9 inches tall. It had a gorilla face with Sakura's face over where the eye's would've been blending into the nose and becoming her mouth. Sakura looked at Hinata who was moving away. "Don't make this any more difficult than it has to be." She said and she lumbered forward while Hinata struggled to stand but her strength was non-existent her stomach was empty, her mind spinning, and her legs trembled she fell once, twice, three then four times trying to get up but it was all leaving her energy, sanity, and even her conscious mind. It was then that she lost all forms of consciousness and a new one emerged.

Hinata laid still while Sakura approached, she reached with a giant hand and pinched the heiress' neck with two fingers. "Good-bye." Said the monster girl and she squeezed but instead of a sharp crack or the feel of bones crushing between her fingers she found she couldn't even apply pressure to Hinata's neck. She looked and saw that protecting the heiress' neck was scales. Even as she looked she could feel hard muscles start to bulge along her neck and she stepped back quickly. "Transforming now!? But how!? She should be-!" But she froze as Hinata's body cracked and snapped and a low growling emerged from her throat. The heiress' body was growing and bulging larger and larger her clothes tearing themselves as she grew scales forming on her arms and legs. Suddenly something shot out form Hinata's back and Sakura pulled back in time to see a fleshy blood covered arm of some sort. She looked a bit closer to see that what it was some bizarre type of wing with claw like hand at the point the joint bent. The wings were leathery and damp though were quickly drying however they were too small to allow flight.

She backed away getting a good view of the transformed Hinata. Hinata's body was larger she stood at least a foot taller than before and her body was covered in scales save her chest, stomach and nether regions the scales had a slight black hue. She was still humanoid but Sakura could see a long serpentine tail waving behind her slick with flesh juices and with large barbs on the end that quivered ominously. The hands had morphed into 5 fingered claws with large talons as did her feet though they had formed into 3 large taloned toes. What worried Sakura though was the head, which was currently lowered preventing her from seeing anything she was a little surprised to find Hinata still had her hair. The sound of muscles moving and the strange claw wing retracted and then grabbed onto the new monster's shoulder settling on it comfortably as did another claw wing.

It was then a sudden surge of danger filled Sakura as the head raised and she saw the face the outer parts of her face, her cheeks, chin, forehead and neck region covered in scales while the inner part was flesh. Poking out of Hinata's head were a pair of horns that had a spiral formation that curved forward then up and on the side of her head was strange orifices that expanded and contracted rhythmically as if they were inhaling and exhaling air. The eyes that stared at her were pure golden, the sense of danger only increased as Hinata's mouth opened and breath of air was exhaled then the mouth and as it did the sound of flesh ripping was heard and Sakura stiffened.

The new monster's jaws opened wide, the gorilla girl moved but the body lunged forward and as it did one of the claw wings lashed out grabbing the former students' arm pulling it into the jaw that clamped down hard on her arm. Teeth came down with guillotine force and severed her upper arm off of her body. Sakura gave an animal howl as her arm spurted blood all over this newborn monster which spat out her arm and crouching down began to tear it apart piece by piece devouring the arm sating herself on the flesh.

Sakura trembled and her body fluctutated fear pumping through her as an animal knowledge of what Hinata was flooded her mind. _'An Apex Predator, the top of the food chain and capable of destroying it if it wanted to. Run. Run. Run. Run. Run.'_ The words blazed inside of her mind and she obeyed lumbering out with only one hand the other still bleeding all over the floor. However the new monster paid no mind, it's hunger was finally abated and it would enjoy this meal to it's very last.

Sakura ran as fast as she could she knew that she wouldn't get pursued now that it was feasting on her arm but she wasn't gonna try to take it on. She was out of the cave and panting when suddenly something flew down from above and slashed her shoulder with powerful claws. She screeched as she fell her arm jerking uncontrollably. She heard a screeching eagle cry and she raised her head only for it to be punched back down by the curled fist claw. She instantly knew it was that bird monster from before she waited, she had regain control of her arm and she clenched her hand into a fist waiting. She sniffed and she could smell it above her, circling then it dove down and when it was within range she struck out furiously swinging a powerful back fist toward it. The bird raised it's legs then struck out with the left and then the right bashing her head in. It was in that instant she realized she couldn't win. She rolled onto her front and pushed herself up. Tears were streaming down her eyes pain, fear, and despair was flooding her as the realization that she could die edged closer and closer. She tried to run when the monster swooped and rammed into her making her stagger back.

It kept doing so pushing her left and right with each swoop. It was then that Sakura realized, _'It's herding me! But to-!?'_ and that was when she slipped her foot stepping down into nothing. She reached up with her remaining arm instinct telling her to do so. She got a strong grip on solid ground when the bird monster suddenly landed. It walked forward looking down at her though she could not see it's face though she could sense clearly it's malevolent and pure spite that it had for her. Tears started to stream down her face, _'Why? What did I do?'_ she couldn't help but wonder as she saw the claw raise up the nails gleaming ominously, _'Why must I die? I just… I just… I wanted to live for another day… I wanted to-.'_ the claw slashed off her fingers and she fell into a pit filled with large rocks of varying shapes.

She landed with a sickening crunch her head split in the back by a sharp rock blood and brain matter oozing out. Her body twitching uncontrollably as the bird monster landed it's body shrinking down to show a human figure with white eyes that stared down with disgust then turned and walked away. Tears fell down her lifeless eyes, as she died with just one question, _'Why?'_ was the last thing that entered her mind as she died.

 **-Naruto-**

Naruto went down the mountain his eyes narrowed, he could remember what he had seen clearly. The climb had been perilous and when he got to the top oxygen was a bit low but even with that he could remember clearly the view. He was on a giant island that was surrounded by water for miles and miles. _'There's no way out of here… and I have a power that I can't control yet. My first priority should be to get this power under my control.'_ He knew that unless he did he would be nothing more than prey and in order to survive he must control the monster that was now inside of him. He looked and saw Haku's grave. He paused, after some silence he continued walking, _'I should help those that need it… just like you did with me Haku… this new world doesn't need to be as cold as the last one.'_ He resolved and he began his journey in this new, strange and dangerous world and with it he asked himself one final question. ' _What is it… that makes a man… and what makes a monster?'_ he would find out the truth of that question.

As he walked high above a winged figured hovered watching him with white eyes, and horns on her head shaped not unlike rabbit ears. She raised her head and spoke, "Whether monster or man... thou will all come to know death and violence... thou's life will for now on be the path of survival... whatever road thy path shall lead, thou will forever know such, and live on the fine line between man and monster..." and with that she vanished into thin air.


	3. Chapter 2

What Makes a Monster and What makes a Man?  
Written by Silent Soul Ken SSK  
Assisted by Baron Von Nobody  
Rating M for Mature: Blood, Gore, Violence, Sexual Activity, and Language  
Summary: It had been a day like any other day, until the giant meteors hit. All those in the blast radius find themselves still alive, having awoken in a new place, but things are not what they seem…

 **Chapter 2  
Control**

Hinata groaned lightly as she pushed herself up. She stared at the ground, her body awake but her mind still sluggish with sleep. It was then a cold breeze blew through, and she was fully aware- wrapping her arms around her body, shivering-that her clothes were gone, she didn't know where but she was naked. She was confused, _'How am I alive?'_ She wondered as she reached for her neck, the phantom sensation of something squeezing it still strong in her. _'What happened to Sakura? Did she… lose her nerve and leave?'_ She didn't know, nor could she. It just meant that she could probably come back and finish what she started. So staying in the cave was a bad idea. She would have to go the forest and hide out there. However the other problem was clothing… it was then she remembered that the school was there. _'Maybe if I go back I can find some of my gym clothes_ _._ _I can use th_ _ose_ _for now… but I can't stay here, it just means death for me.'_ It was a grim thought but it was the truth. She stood and it was then she realized she felt no hunger pain in all this time.

She wondered why, the slight horror that she had eaten something alive creeping into her. _'Don't think about it just keep going worry about this another time the key is to stay alive.'_ Emboldened by that she began to run toward the woods. Above the entrance of the cave a figure watched her go, white eyes watching silently. Then without warning or prompting the figure moved, jumping down and moving to follow her.

 **-Naruto-**

He stood at the entrance to a forest, he had walked a good two miles and he wasn't winded but he was getting hungry. _'I guess the monster part of me is why I still_ _have_ _energy_ _?_ _'_ He had walked through the plains that were below the mountain. He remembered seeing a building that looked suspiciously like his school building from his view above and he decided to head there first to see if there were any survivors that hadn't transformed yet, and second to find some stuff to survive. He didn't know how to access his new power but he would do his best to figure it out. Till then he had some stuff in his locker that should help with fighting in the meantime. Apart from that he could use some of the stuff inside to make camp and hunt. For once in his life he was grateful for his godparents forcing him to join the boy-scouts when he was younger.

He inhaled deeply and walked in. He pushed in through the bushes and he thought on his transformation. The one thing he remembered was extreme rage - and sadness - filling him then his mind blacked out. He didn't remember, not even a little bit, of what happened after that. He held up a hand looking at it. The skin was unmarred but it shuddered somewhat as if it could remember what he couldn't. _'What did I-'_ He could sense it, something… or someone was watching him.

A instinctual warning pinged in his head and obeyed, jumping to the side just avoiding something as it flew past him and slammed into a tree destroying its trunk and causing it to fall. Naruto rolled and got to his feet quickly, hands clenched, _'Probably people_ _in their monster forms,_ _which means I gotta transform! But… I don't know how!'_ He heard bushes shuffling and he stiffened, getting into a stance, one fist held up with his other held near his knee, palm open. The bushes rustled more and then suddenly two figures appeared, one a young woman with long black hair and wearing ragged clothes, the other a man with bandages wrapped around his face with a large amount of gray hair trailing behind the tattered remains of a biker uniform clinging to him. Naruto lowered his guard and ran up to them, "Whoa, you two ok?" He asked, they panted, heads lowered. _'I should get them out of here.'_ He thought and he stood up looking around. "Careful there's a monster around here so we need to be careful." He said.

It was then that the girl raised her head, "heh, heh… easy prey…" she said.

The blood froze in Naruto and he turned only to get knocked off his feet by a powerful... _something_ and he was thrown tumbling into a tree, his back hitting it hard. He bounced off it, blood flying out of his surprised mouth as his body crashed face first to the ground. Naruto grunted as he heard footsteps and then a deep voice spoke, "Good work Zaku, that should've killed him." The blonde gritted his teeth in anger.

He kept still however, his anger boiling, _'Great we got lunatics… tch! Dammit! That seriously hurt a lot… fuck!'_ His hand clenched into a fist as a familiar sensation filled him. _'I don't want to kill them… but… graghhhhh!'_ His conscious mind began to fade as the laughing trio stopped as their 'preys' body began to bulge and then transform.

The long haired girl turned to look at a large lizard-like creature with large fleshy protrusions and along it's back were spikes with holes at the tips and the tail had a bony attachment at the end with a hollow tip. "Zaku! Finish him off now!" She shouted in panic.

The lizard gave a smirk, "With pleasure!" He growled and a slight hissing sound filled the air, if one looked they could see air being sucked in the spikes and the tail. The lizard's body began to swell and bulge and the protrusions shuddered as he aimed at the now fully transformed monster and then they opened and fired a blast of highly pressurized air. It hit the monster and a slight explosion occurred as the air began a small storm of powerful wind gusts that slashed the ground and tree. The three backed away and when the storm stopped a small cloud of dust was in the air. Then it parted to reveal the striped, empty ground.

The girl looked at the lizard, "Way to go you maniac, yet another target you utterly obliterated!" She snapped.

But the bandaged man was silent, "He's still alive…" He said as he slowly began to transform. His body swelled and from his back large quills began to emerge in large thick rows each as thick as an arm, his hands transformed, his index and middle finger fusing as did his pinkie and ring finger while his thumb swelled into large claws. The top of his head also grew a small row of the spikes while his face remained virtually the same. Anybody who looked at this creature would've been reminded of a monster from a kid's game. "Kin if you want to stay alive transform now, he's stronger than we thought." Said the transformed man.

The girl, Kin, nodded and her body changed; thin strings of chitin armor forming on her body along with a close set of fuzzy hair similar to a moth's, her limbs also acquiring this fuzz, and above her behind an insect abdomen formed. Her eyes began to swell, the pupil and sclera splitting till they became a pair of compound eyes. From her back large insect wings appeared similar to that of a dragonfly's. She looked around, "So if he's not dead then where is he Dosu?" She turned to the clawed monster.

Dosu didn't respond however as he felt the quills on his back start to shudder. He then spoke quietly, "He's pacing around us. He's not in control yet." He deduced.

Dosu was mostly right, but he was partially wrong, Naruto was partially conscious, not enough to be in control but enough to see, though it was blurry, what was going on… somewhat. He could feel his new body move, feel the powerful muscles, the sharp jaws, and the razor claws that his body possessed as it paced around the 3 monsters. He could even feel the intent of his body, it was going to catch them off guard then it would eat them. But he had no control though so he tried to enforce his will onto it. If anything it was like an observer looking through a foggy screen.

Dosu snarled, "As always Zaku your impulsiveness has put us at a disadvantage, if we had his scent we could prepare for an attack but now we can't. It seems as a beast he has a clear understanding of how to fight. He's making sure he's downwind so we don't get a scent." He growled.

Zaku turned his reptilian head to Dosu, "Oh shut the fuck up, all we need is for him to come into range and I'll hit him full power!" He snapped.

Kin chuckled, "You already used a full power blast, you're down and out for a while." She said.

The reptile turned his head to her, "Get real you dumb bitch I can blow you to smithereens, he won't be any different. And for your information that only was a ¾ blast not a-" but Dosu's claws came up to his neck.

The dark eyes were narrowed in disgust, "Shut. Up. The more you talk the bigger his advantage becomes and the smaller ours alert!" He growled. They were silent after that, Dosu joined the silence and lowered his claws. He suddenly slapped them against each other, a hollow ringing sounding and the large quills on his back shuddered. Dosu spoke again, this time quietly, "He's behind us… be ready." He cautioned.

Naruto's body pounced, aiming for Kin only for her to leap up, her wings fluttering and propelling her into the air. Dosu rolled to his side and slashed, catching a leg and slicing it, though not too deeply. Zaku jumped to the side, and a slight hissing sound emanating from his body. Dosu got to his feet, his quills shuddering as he looked at the monster man. He could see the three tails waving about and the powerful muscles of his humanoid body. The beast thrust a hand at the ground and spun so he was facing the three, it growled and it's fox tails stopped waving and stood straight. _'This guy is powerful…'_ Were what his instincts were telling him. "We have to kill him before he learns how to control himself." Dosu said aloud. The other two looked at him, "If we don't he'll be an enemy too strong for us to deal with." They looked at each other then at the fox like beast.

Inside his body he heard the words, muffled, disjointed, _**'Kill him… control himself… too strong…'**_ and yet he felt otherwise, but the words raised a fire inside of him, _'Control! I have to… Control!'_ and he began to try and impose his will on his body but it refused. It snarled and then lunged forward with blinding speed, at the spiney beast slashing with a left and throwing a quick right. Dosu blocked the slashed and ducked the punch. He stabbed a claw into the ground and kicked off the ground spinning, and his quills split slightly and smaller needles shot out at Naruto. His tails raised up in front of him and with rapid motions they knocked the needles into the ground and trees.

Kin was mildly impressed, "This guy… he's not even in control and yet he's this strong. Dosu's right we gotta kill this guy now! Zaku hurry up!" She shouted turning her bug eyes to him... not that you could tell.

The reptile snarled at her, "Just a bit longer! You do something!" He snapped, the hissing sound intensifying and his chest inflating slowly. Kin turned back to the fight and she opened her mouth and a white ball shot out just as the fox beast charged, hitting it square in the face. The ball exploded slightly and covered it's eyes in a sticky fluid. It stumbled and crashed into the ground, reaching up to remove the gunk from it's eyes but found itself unable to do so. Dosu leaped upward, avoiding the body dive and then, turning,he spun like a drill coming down. But the beast rolled to the side and Dosu wound up drilling down into the ground, disappearing underneath, but the fox just stood up and turned to Kin, it's deadly gaze and intent, focused on her.

Kin grimaced _'Looks like it's not enough to blind him!'_ She realized, before she spat another string ball, but was surprised when a tail came up and blocked the ball. It stuck to the tail, but it was far better there than stuck to the fox creature's face.

It didn't stay there long though, as she heard a roar and a loud ripping and suddenly she saw her web ball thrown to the ground with some fur stuck to it. It snarled and a took a step forward only to falter as the ground began to shake. _'Dosu's earth shudder attack!'_ She realized. Despite how they looked Dosu's claws were partially hollow and could, when slapped together, emit a ringing noise as shown before. Using his ears he could then tell where a target was. His spines were actually several quills that could stick together or separate. If he wanted he could launch them as the large spines or as smaller quills. If they were as large spines he could cause them to reverberate and create deafening ringing sounds, and if used underground he could create miniature quakes. This was what he was doing now, which meant that now would be a perfect time to use her wings.

Kin herself also had more than just her string, her wings could vibrate at high frequency and send a wave of high decibel sound waves at a target damaging their body with the powerful waves and could scramble the messages sent to the brain. She began to vibrate her wings. There wasn't much save her usual buzzing but then a slight high pitched whine began to sound. She directed the sound at Naruto and a visible wave came down on him. The effect was instant, his ears folding back against his head to block out the sound but failing, his sense of hearing too heightened by his body's powerful senses.

Inside his body Naruto could feel the ground shake, his body staggering as the ground shook, ears ringing from the shrill sound. He heard the voice shouting, "Take this you bastard!" and for a split second he had control he looked up, raising his body from the ground. Then he was slammed hard in the chest by a powerful force that ate through his skin like piranha in a feeding frenzy. He flew into a tree where his back cracked ominously and his arms snapped back. Dust and leaves flew up around him, covering him in a cloud of dust while the tree behind him was shredded somewhat by the attack.

Kin hovered overhead, smirking in triumph, "We got the fucker!" she said proudly.

Zaku, who was wheezing slightly, glared up at her, his body shrinking as he did, "'We?' you did jack shit I'm the one that iced the fucker not you!" and with that the two began to quarrel.

Dosu ignored this and advanced on the body, he felt uneasy for some reason and he had to make sure that the new monster was actually dead. He approached, waving the dust aside. In that instant a warning flashed in his mind to jump back. But he was already a second too slow as 5 claws slashed through the air and he screamed as he fell back, his arm bleeding from the stump that had been viciously torn open. The two turned to see the beast standing, it's chest red with blood but the skin already healing, steam rising from the wound.

"ARGH!" Dosu shouted as he fell back, his body reverting back to his human form from the sheer shock of the attack.

His comrades turned, Zaku gaping while Kin was charging toward the raging Naruto. "How the hell did he survive!? Nothing survives that attack! Well fuck this I'm out!" He wheezed and he began to limp away. Kin stopped and began to vibrate her wings when the clawed hand shot up to her throat and squeezed down the claws sinking into her neck. She gasped and began to choke and gag.

She turned to Dosu to cry out for help but just saw a bloody trail leading away from the scene. Tears began to stream out of her bug like eyes, as she felt a clawed hand grip her arm tightly. She wanted to say something but the hand on her throat prevented her from speaking, the low growl made her look at the face of her captor. The face was set in a snarl and the wound on his chest was healed but there was a sizable scar shaped uncannily like an X. It lowered her face till it was inches from it's own. She stared into those wild eyes and she lost all will to fight. Her body going limp in surrender… she couldn't do anything… except die. She knew that on a conscious and instinctual level.

She then felt hot breathing at her pussy and she flushed in surprise She turned to see that the blonde monster's head was inches from her slit, it's tongue slid out and licked. She stiffened and felt tears burning in her eyes as a new fear came over her. _'Seriously…? I'm about to be raped? Death… Death would be much better than this… help…'_ She looked and could see it standing slightly, a phallus emerging from his crotch. It was quite large, easily a foot, possibly larger, but the sheer girth was far more frightening. She couldn't look at it, she turned away and tried to move but the tails tightened painfully. _'Help me.'_ She felt the clawed hands wrapping around her waist.

She felt the cock pushing at her entrance, she couldn't take it anymore, and out of her mouth she gasped, "Help me." She felt the grip on her suddenly loosen.

Naruto heard the words enter his mind and it froze his bestial side, it was enough for his human form to control his body. He grabbed control and pulled his hands away from her, his tails unfurling as well. He stepped back but already the beast within was trying to take control.

Kin didn't hesitate, she opened her wings and vibrated them as rapidly as she could, the sonic waves bombarded Naruto. He staggered back, and using that she took to the air, moving as fast as she could away from him. The beast fell back clutching it's head as the ear splitting sound faded into darkness. It stood up and opened it's eyes. When it saw Kin was gone it rumbled then roared and began to attack anything and everything in sight. Using it's considerable muscle power to bash trees, crush rocks, and gouge the ground. Eventually however it ran out of energy both from over exertion and from it's battle.

It fell, gasping, it's body shrinking back down, reverting back to Naruto's human form. He laid on the ground his body sweaty, his hands twitching, his legs sore, and his chest hurting. He eventually got to his feet and looked at his chest. There was a large X shaped scar there, "Seems like that new body can't heal everything then…" He mused with a wince, "I'll remember that in future." He looked down again and saw his pants had barely remained, the zipper was gone and as a result his dick was hanging out. He rubbed his head, embarrassed, "Damn this is embarrassing. I need new clothes." He said sadly, then he remembered. "I saw the school from up there… I think I did, if it's here I should have some of my spare gym clothes in there." With that in mind he redoubled his pace for his school.

 **-Several Hours later-**

Naruto looked at the sky as he pushed past some foliage, the sky was starting to darken, and he needed to get his clothes to find someplace to sleep, now that he thought about it. He turned his gaze forward and saw the school, causing his pace to quick as he walked toward it. The first thing he was was a gaping hole in the side.

He wandered towards it and saw it lead into the lunchroom. He expected to see bodies everywhere but there wasn't anyone there… no food either, but the discarded remains of lunch boxes and trays were scattered all over the the place. He looked around but found nothing, so he walked over to where the lunch lady normally was. When he got there he could see the stains of dried blood in various places.

He wanted to rule out the possibility there would be no food but he wasn't sure if that would be true or not. However if something happened like there was a beast-human inside how would he defend himself? "I can't transform… I… I don't know how to control myself. I…" He paused, he couldn't say the words. But he had to, "I don't want to be responsible for killing someone that doesn't deserve to be killed." he said.

He looked around and found a metal pole that had been broken off, it looked slightly melted too. _'Probably because of the meteor crash.'_ He guessed. He grabbed it and pulled it up, freeing it from the rubble it was planted into. It had some weight meaning he could at the least knock someone, or _something_ more like, out. He went behind the counter and to the door leading into the kitchen. He paused taking a deep breath and then pushed it open slowly, and then rushed in rod held up. He paused then looked around, there didn't seem to be anything inside, but he did see alot of food packs, most of which had been torn open. He walked in slowly making sure to look around closely to see anything anywhere. But he saw no one else, he went to the freezer and saw there were claw marks and even a few dents but no openings. He went to the handle and saw it had been utterly demolished. He opened it, and saw boxes everywhere… but the thing that made him freeze was seeing the bloody stains and the curled frozen remains of a lizard-like creature. It's hands was grabbing a piece of meat that was also frozen and half eaten.

He didn't even bother with trying to find any other food he was too disgusted by what he saw. He walked out, heading for the door to the cafeteria. He pushed it open and paused he looked back to the freezer door, saw the frozen corpse then closed the door and walked away, heading for the gym. He walked down the hall and as he did he could see blood splattered everywhere, broken lockers and mangled remains of chairs and desks and even some doors burst open and lodged in walls. It looked like a warzone. He saw the door to the locker rooms and he went toward it and was instantly hit with the smell of rotting flesh. He looked and could see a corpse of a beast however he paled when he saw that it wasn't just dead it was missing large parts of it's flesh. He looked away heading for his locker, he sighed to find it was still intact along with several others. He opened his and grabbed his clothes. He slipped on his pants… but found his shirt was absent however his spare open chest jacket was there and he pulled that on. He adjusted cursing his removal of the buttons so it remained open at all times. He checked again and saw an old water bottle. He grabbed it and shook it, the sloshing of some liquid met his ear. He unscrewed the cap and sniffed, and was met with a foul smell. He tossed the bottle aside, and looked again.

There was one last item… well several last items but they were all the same, long white bands. He paused then grabbed it and tied it around his head. The cords of the band falling down to the middle of his back where an emblem shaped like a red spiral was. Naruto closed the locker, only to hear his stomach rumble. He groaned then he went out and decided to go through the rooms and lockers to find anything to eat. He went out the hall and up the stairs, when he reached it he could see the blood was everywhere including some corpses, some having been eaten out while others lay rotting inside of the walls. He could feel his stomach churn in disgust but he had to admit it was setting in quite nicely what kind of world this was. "Dog eat dog… literally." he said but that didn't make him feel any better about it. He felt like he wanted to throw up however he stomached it all for now. "Gotta be strong… if not physically then at least… in my head." But even as he turned into a room he saw more bodies of beasts some eaten other's beaten so badly parts of their bodies were missing. He turned away and into another classroom. The same scene appeared, he felt his breath become hoarse, his stomach churned. He walked out and ran down the hall glancing into each room all of them repeating the same bloody scenes over and over again. He stopped running panting now. Cold sweat ran down his body chilling him. He looked at a room the door was closed… he recognized the number 218… it was his homeroom. As he stood there he thought of his teacher, Iruka. _'Did… Did Iruka-sensei die too?'_ he wondered. He hoped he hadn't, Iruka was the only teacher he liked and the only one he respected especially.

He stared at the door his heart thudding so loudly it reverberated in his ears. He stood up and looked at the window which was red with blood blocking off the view inside. He raised a trembling hand to the door handle. He grabbed it and pulled it to the side. He stared at his classroom, desks were everywhere and the chairs were either stabbed into transformed students or utterly gone. His gaze fell on one thing and he couldn't hold it in anymore. He turned away, hand on mouth, bile spilling out from his hand, he staggered forward and began to retch. Behind him was the remains of a girl, half-transformed, her body mauled and her entrails dragged across the ground like meaty spaghetti.

The sheer brutal imagery, her expression of sheer terror, sadness, shock, and betrayal… it was too much a shock for his system. _'We wake up to a world where nature has taken over… not just in the land but inside of us as well! We kill each other. EAT each other. Like a bunch of fucking animals... '_ he heaved again and staggered to a wall. He dry heaved a few times, then he panted, "Is that what we are now? Animals? Just a bunch of… ravenous, wild animals?" He gasped. _'Not wild… at first yes but it can be controlled.'_ a voice said. "I can't control myself!" he responded.

But before the voice could reply there was a creaking. Naruto froze and he turned, a door was open and standing behind was something. It was big, but a weak gasping sniffling was coming out of it. Then the words came, "You're going to kill me aren't you?" Said the weak voice quivering voice. The thing came out, it was very big, looking like some kind of bull it was on all fours but it's front legs had hands. One horn was broken and he could see horrible scab wounds that had flies buzzing around them, Naruto noticed to his disgust some of the fly's heads were distinctly human in shape. "I… I'm not going to die! I… I'm not going to be eaten like they were." Naruto opened his mouth to speak but saw the eyes were wild and unfocused, this person was too far gone.

They wanted to live, and to live they would kill anyone that they met and believed would kill them. Naruto stepped back, as the beast got to it's hind legs and scuffed them. "I won't die! I'm not gonna die!" And it charged at him. Naruto jumped to the side and it plowed straight through the wall and door, utterly smashing it to bits.

Naruto stared wide eyed, _'shit he's got the force of an APC at full speed!'_ he stared at the ruined wall.

Then the beast came out, tears streaming out of it's eyes, "it hurts!" it whined, "It hurts! You made it hurt!" it said it's eyes staring at him. Naruto turned and ran the beast already charging after him. He ran as fast as he could and jumped the stairs he grunted as pain shot into his leg from the landing but he turned and jumped down the next set. The beast slammed into the wall as it tried to turn and it cried out in pain but it never stopped pursuing him.

Naruto landed again and he felt his ankle suddenly spark with pain, he grunted but ignored it and kept running though hobbling slightly. He was sure he hadn't twisted his ankle but the pain spoke otherwise. He heard the snorting and chanced a look back. The beast was scuffing the ground again and then it bellowed with an animal cry and charged. "FUCK!" He shouted and hobbled to the cafeteria and rolling down behind the door. The beast flew through the door and but dug it's hooves in skidding to a stop. Naruto rolled getting behind the serving counter as the bull beast turned. Not seeing the blonde it began to walk around, as it did it spoke.

"You have no idea what happened here…" it's voice cracking and weak but audible. "We woke up thought we were fine, till the first person transformed… I had to watch as the students began to butcher each other, some just killing other's eating. Friends, family's, respect that didn't mean anything anymore!" It grabbed a table and threw it where it slammed against the wall. "The first to go where of course those that wanted 'peace' and 'cooperation' but that's stupid here! You either are strong or your dead! Peace love that doesn't mean anything anymore!" It kicked another table which flew out the huge opening. "Even the factuly attacked, and I had to survive by hiding and fighting back when I was found… it still hurts…" it rubbed the wounds on it's body. "It hurts… having to kill my friends…" it sniffed, and when it did it paused and sniffed some more.

The blonde delinquent pulled his head out from behind the serving counter and saw it had turned in his direction. "Shit!" he muttered and staggered away just in time as the bull charged again and it slammed into the wall it's head cracking loudly and it reared back howling it's other horn stuck in the wall. Blood spurting out of the horn and head. Naruto was now leaning against the other side of the serving counter panting just underneath the shade as the ground shook.

It stood clutching the wounds that had just formed. It began to wail loudly the cries ear splitting and deafening, "Mommy it hurts!" Naruto stiffened his back against the wall.

He gritted his teeth and grabbed the headband on his head, _'Pain's a natural thing you… you're a snot nosed kid who was on his mom's boob too long.'_ Naruto rested as it bawled and wailed.

"Mommy it hurts…! Help me! Help!" Naruto stiffened at that.

The blonde's teeth loosened, _'Yeah he's in pain… he's suffering… the only way to stop the pain… is to kill him painlessly.'_ he got to his feet, he cracked his knuckles as he stared at the wailing beast he looked around then stopped, _'I can't do it like this… if I try it's not gonna be painless and I'll probably die doing it too. I need… I need the beast inside of me! The strength it possesses.'_ he looked at it's hand, _'I can't bring it out on command yet… but I have to!'_ he looked at the beast, _'There's only one way for now.'_ and he approached the howling beast. "Hey stupid!" he shouted waving his hand in the air, the beast stopped howling and turned to him. "You want some of this then come and get it!" he shouted pounding on his chest. The beast growled then it turned to him fully.

"You made it hurt… Now I'll kill you and it'll stop hurting!" it snarled and then it ran to him. Naruto knew getting hit with the charge would kill him what he needed to get hit by was with a fist. That was the only way to survive. So when the bull came close he dived to the side. It skidded to a halt and then spun around and it's fist slammed into his ribs. He felt them crack before the momentum sent him flying into the wall where he felt his back snap and his body sink in slightly before he bounced off and painfully into the floor. He coughed blood flying out of his lips in copious amounts. His body though was already starting to change muscles bulging and the bones resnapping the healing factor already kicking in. But the ground shook and he rolled onto his back, looking up to see the beast standing over him.

He gritted his teeth, _'This is gonna hurt.'_ and the first fist slammed into his stomach. Then the next followed by the next till a barrage of fists began to pounding into him dust and smoke coming from the floor and his body began to steam. The fists kept coming till a hand reached up grabbing one then the other. Large thickly furred hands that became enveloped in fur. Growling the red fox like beast stood it's tails waving behind it. It pushed the bull back, and growled. The bull beast stepped back afraid. Inside Naruto's mind he was in a battle that took seconds to process far faster than the real world could comprehend. His will had grown strong enough to meet the beast head on and he was using all his fighting knowledge he had acquired over the years to beat it down into submission.

He kept it on the ropes, beating it with all he had forcing his spirit over it hitting the ears, nose, and other vital spots till it whimpered and rolled over to it's belly in submission. Now he had control and he had admit the feeling of his new body was quite different. He felt like he was inside of some suit, it was strange he clenched his hand into a fist and felt his body respond. He turned his gaze to the bull which was snorting and had it's own hands clenched into fists. His mind listed the various way's to kill him quickly and painlessly and all of them pointed to one method breaking his neck.

He tightened his body but it felt strange, he could feel power welling up inside of him. A lot of power, the strength was quite intoxicating but he focused, turning his gaze forward. The bull scuffed the ground, "I'm not going to die." it muttered, "I'm not going to die." Naruto's eyes furrowed at that then the two sprung. Naruto's body slammed into the bull's muscular one and his body pushed it down. His arms wrapped around it's neck and clamped down then he pulled it's body up jerking it, then he twisted and the loud snap was heard. He pressed down with his arms even more preventing air from coming in or out of it's mouth. When he felt the body stop struggling he released it. It fell with an enormous **'thud'** to the ground.

Naruto sighed, and he sat down his body already reverting back to normal. When he finished he could feel his jeans were torn but still hung around his waist and the arms of his vest were gone but the rest of it remained. He found to his surprise as well that his headband was still there. "Looks like this is my look." he said. He sighed then he looked at the dead body. There was a rather sad expressions on it, he looked away back before the meteor's he had boasted that he could kill without feeling anything. Now he knew that was a lie. It had been very painful killing this guy, especially since he didn't truly deserve it. He looked up to see the sky was dark. He looked at the body then he got up and went to the nurse's office.

When he got there the door was open, there was some blood on the floor but otherwise no bodies, or even really bad smells. He walked in grabbed some chlorine and tossed it down then threw some water and scrubbed it up. WHen he was done he closed the door but opened the window slightly. He then went to the bed laid on it, sighed again then closed his eyes and attempted to fall asleep. After 4 minutes of tossing and turning his exhaustion finally claimed him.

 **-Naruto's Dream-**

Naruto dreamt a strange dream, his body felt heavy… his eyes just as heavy but he felt like he was suspended in some kind of… liquid. He tried to open his eyes but they were too heavy. He heard a voice speak, "...Fallen asleep… it's dreaming…" the voice said, he tried to open his eyes again forcing them to split but he couldn't. "Keep monitoring this one." the voice said, "Report the findings to…." the voice drifted away.

 **-Konoha highschool-**

Naruto sat up abruptly, he looked around but saw no one. He listened but the only thing he heard was his own breathing and the chirping of birds. He looked at the sky and saw daylight shining down. He sighed and rubbed his head then he laid back down wondering what to do. His stomach grumbling reminded him what it wanted. He got off the bed and went to the kitchen to again try to find some kind of food to eat. He went into the freezer and found some frozen hotdogs, he ignored the body, it didn't even so much as register in his field of view. With that done he went to the stove and let the fire to start cooking.

 **-Hinata-**

The heiress of the Hyuuga clan looked at the building the huge hole from where the first meteor had hit, the one that had evaporated her, still there. She looked around and saw no one, and she made a run for the school. She approached the building only to see the remains of a large bull-like beast it's body riddled with scabs and flies buzzing around it. She felt her stomach rumble but she turned away and went to the gym hoping to find some clothes. She came to a hall of destruction, the floor had deep indents that looked like hooves. _'That means the bull was a fresh kill… perhaps yesterday... '_ she stopped at that thought, _'Is the killer still here?'_ she shuddered at that thought. She stopped running and went to the wall moving slowly. She looked around carefully ignoring the wind blowing against her nude body. She looked into a room and looked away clapping a hand to her mouth. She had come across a scene of carnage and it sickened her that such a thing could happen here in the school she had grown up in. Her mind drifted to the boy that had caught her attention, golden haired, eyes of sapphire, and with the courage to fight any battle no matter how hopeless it seemed. Her mind drifted to 2 years ago.

 _ **-An alleyway-**_

 _Hinata stood her back pressed against a wall as 5 boys leered at her, "So this is the Hyuuga princess kinda slutty body for a princess don't you think?" one asked._

 _Another chuckled, "Totally look at those tits they're almost as big as her head, you sure she's only 16? That body belongs to a 24 year old." Hinata tried to walk away but one moved in front of where she was going._

 _He leered at her, "Oh, where you going? What you think we're gonna rape you or something?" he asked, she shuddered and backed away._

 _One guy laughed, "maybe we should, I think she'd be worth a fuck or two!" he said._

" _Don't you guy's have better stuff to do?" a voice said, one of them turned only for a fist to slam into his face the sound of his nose breaking echoed the alley._

 _Two more turned only for a hand to reach up to their head and smash them together. The last two turned, "Naruto!? You little bastard the fuck you doing here?" They snapped. Naruto stood his hands going into his black trench coat's pocket, chest exposed showing his tank top and the white headband he wore waved in the air._

 _He turned his gaze to Hinata briefly then back to them, "You planning to rape her? Try that and you'll eat my fists and boot, and don't think I won't tell her family you tried this. I like to see your folks get jobs after that, considering they're already doing pisspoor work to begin with." he said._

 _The last two guys pulled out switchblades the knives coming out, "Shut the fuck up! You've always been a pain in the ass keep this up and we'll cut that tongue out!" but Naruto glared at them hard, and he seemed to grow larger till his body eclipsed them. Truthfully he stood tall and they shrunk back in fear._

 _His blue eyes which were either taciturn, happy, or angry was of cold merciless pity. "Try me… you'll be dead and I won't even bat an eye." he held up both hands and got into a stance not unlike a boxer's. They stared at him their hands quivering then they stiffened._

" _D-Don't fuck with us!" And they both struck, only for Naruto's body to vanish, they blinked "He vanished!?" they shouted obvious but their surprise couldn't produce any other response._

 _Naruto's voice came from below, "God you're fucking dumb." He said and he rose up from his crouch and hit the bully hard in the chin the blow was so hard that his teeth cracked then shattered and he fell back broken teeth and blood splattering his face. Naruto turned and threw 3 punches so fast that no one saw them, the nose, the eye, and the cheek the last bully fell his face bleeding. Naruto lowered his hands and turned to Hinata._

 _She had watched the entire thing stunned, he then held out his hand, "Did they hurt you?" He asked. She blushed and shook her head, he blinked then lowered his hand back into his pocket, "You should get going, it's up to you if you wanna tell your dad about this or not. See ya." and he walked away and didn't look back._

 _-Present Time-_

That had been the first time anybody stood up for her not because of who she was but that she was in danger. She hated to admit it but she admired his uncaring attitude toward her background. He had done what he did because she was in danger. After that she made sure she knew everything he did, she knew every fight he had been since, knew of all the classes he had gone to, and where he hung out when he wasn't in school. _'Geeze I sound like a stalker.'_ she realized. She then remembered what she was doing and focused on that.

 **-Naruto-**

Naruto paused as the smell of cooked hotdogs hung in the air. For a brief few seconds his nose smelled something that wasn't hotdog. It was the scent of blood, and death a scent he had become acclimated with in a short time span. But when he stopped to sniff again it was gone. He stood there _'Again my senses are boosted to heights they previously weren't… this was like when I was eating with Haku… can it be that my new body's abilities don't just take place in it's form?'_ he thought on that, _'no certain senses are boosted the rest are hidden inside the other form. For me it's my sense of smell and taste… but is that all there is to it?'_ he turned back to the hotdogs and grabbing a bowl he placed them inside, turned off the fire and walked out. He looked at the corpse of the beast, and as he did he sniffed again. The hotdogs scent was strong but he could clearly smell blood and guts. He turned his gaze down to the entrance of the hall and stood there. Grabbing a hotdog he threw it in his mouth ignoring the heat and chomping on it vigorously. He swallowed, _'It's not much but it's better than eating someone…'_ however he knew that one day he would have to eat another living being… regardless of intentions. He popped in another hotdog and kept eating, he then sat on the counter and continued his meal.

 **-Hinata-**

Hinata walked into the gym locker room, there wasn't any bodies but there was some blood on the walls and some of the lockers were broken, including her own. Her clothes weren't there, and so she began to look around. She blinked a few times she could've sworn she saw a glowing trail before her but she didn't know why she was seeing this. She followed the trail and came across a pair of bloomers… her bloomers. "Weird." She said, and she grabbed them and slid them on to her bare lower half. She looked around but the trail just lead to where her bloomers were. She sighed and went to the other broken lockers hoping to find a shirt, a minute of this searching and eventually she found a shirt. She slid it on and found it was a tight fit due to her generous bosom. In fact the shirt was hiked up a bit due to her bust. She mentally cursed her seemingly endlessly growing breasts.

She turned to leave when she heard the sound of footsteps. She froze then looked around trying to find a weapon. She found the wooden remains of a bat, better than nothing. She grabbed it and ran to the doorway pressing her back against it. She looked down at the ground seeing a shadow pass. She swallowed, and gripped the bat tightly. A pause then the footsteps came again she saw a foot and she swung only for someone to grab the bat and yank it out o her hands. The bat clattered to the ground and she shrunk back in fear, eyes closed, hands up "Don't kill me!" She screeched.

The person reached into a bowl and held up a hotdog, "Oi, oi, oi I don't kill girls… unless they give me a reason to." The voice was immediately familiar the moment it spoke. Hinata opened her eyes and lowered her hands. Standing there was Naruto and he was currently munching on a hotdog.

She stood up, hope filling her entire body, "Y-You're Naruto." she said.

He said nothing, he was quite aware how well known he was, only people outside of the city didn't know him. "Uh-huh and you are?" He asked.

Hinata frowned, "U-Um… a few years back I was in an alley about to be…" She swallowed, sweat formed on her forehead, "R-Raped when you came and saved me." she explained.

Naruto sighed, looked her up and down, noticed the rather sizable bust, and suddenly it came back to him, "You're that Hyuuga girl, Hinata right?" he asked, she nodded, "Wow small new world… well yeah I… was also caught in that meteor shower and woke up here." He said.

Hinata nodded, it was then she noticed his chest, a huge scar shaped like an X was on it nearly went to his shoulders at the top and down to his waist at the bottom. "What in the world happen?" She said, pointing at the scar.

Naruto was silent, then he said, "Monsters… that were once human, so far everyone I met… and me included is suffering some kind of change. We're not fully human anymore there's a monster inside of us all now. This I got because of 3 monsters attacked me, I beat them but not without getting hurt… so this is just a reminder for me to be stronger." he said. Then he heard a rumbling of the stomach and Hinata clutched hers nervously. "Want a hotdog?" He asked and he held one up. She ran to him and snatched then chomped it down within seconds. He blinked surprise.

Hinata blushed, "S-sorry that was rude." She said.

The blonde just shrugged, "I imagine you've been hungry for a while now, I mean the alternative is uh… nothing." he said and he jerked over his shoulder, "there's more hotdogs I can cook up… maybe a hamburger or two." Hinata was salivating so much it was forming a puddle, he chuckled, "I'll take that as a yes." he said and he turned and headed back to the cafeteria, Hinata right behind him.

Naruto continued raiding the freezer grabbing what he could he found plenty of burgers, hot dogs, some frozen veggies, fish, he took extra of those, french fries and tater tots. Naruto cooked everything he could with Hinata cooking what he couldn't. The two ate quite heartily, if they had been conscious of their current consumption they would've realized they roughly 40 pounds worth of meat. Normally not very healthy but their new bodies demanded the sustenance. In fact their bodies burned through the food so quickly they barely put on 5 extra pounds from their consumption.

Now the two stood at the sink washing their hands of the grease from their feasting. Naruto licked his lips unaware of his tongue extending slightly beyond normal human means. He looked at Hinata, _'I wonder if she can transform too…'_ he tried to remember her, and his mind sifted through various memories till one stood out, her being advanced upon by some punks he knew, she was scared and shrunk under their presence. _'Probably a rabbit or something…'_ he threw another tatertot in his mouth and chewed it was then he remembered. "Hey where are those two girls that hang out with you?" he asked.

Hinata, who was about to eat another burger froze. "Uh… I… I don't know…" she said after a minute of silence. Naruto didn't say anything, Hinata looked at the hamburger in her hand then brought it to her mouth eating silently, she couldn't tell him that Sakura tried to kill out of a delusion that she would kill the pink haired girl. However after Sakura attacked her she blacked out, but when she woke up Sakura was gone. She didn't know what happened to her former classmate but she honestly didn't care to know either.

Naruto was silent, he knew Sakura and Ino he talked with them every now and then. They were vain, haughty, and attention seeking but they were overall ok people. He kind fancied Sakura but he never really thought of things like girlfriends he was… _'A fight craving idiot with no manners.'_ he reminded himself. He grabbed the last burger in his bowl and ate it.

Hinata swallowed the last of her meaty meal and slurped down the excess juices, she then licked her lips and went to the sink to wash herself off. When she was finished she saw Naruto chewing on a hotdog. "Um… what are you planning on doing after this?" She asked.

The blonde delinquent swallowed and sighed, "I was thinking of exploring this new world, but I'm too relaxed and full to go out tonight, so I was thinking of spending one last night here." he said.

She looked at him, "You slept here while… something killed that thing outside?" She said.

Naruto was quiet then he looked away, "I guess so," He said, _'It'd be too weird to tell her I killed that guy, she might think I'd try to kill her next and I... '_ he looked at her, she was looking down at the ground her hand on her chest, _'I want to make sure no one else dies… on my watch.'_ he slid off the table and walked up to her and rinsed off his hands in the sink. "Come on we can sleep in the nurse's office till morning ok?" He said, she looked at him then nodded.

The two walked to the nurses office and got on the bed, "Good night." Naruto said and he turned so he was facing away from Hinata.

She nodded, "Good night." and turned away as well. The two were asleep after 10 minutes.

 **-Later that night-**

Hinata sat up, her body moving silently her eyes opened but they were milky and glossed over. She slid out of the bed and as she did her body changed the bones cracked or melted, her skin bubbling as scales began to appear along it, her teeth grew becoming pointed, her face cracking as the new muscles on her cheeks began to form till she had a maw. She slithered out no longer Hinata Hyuuga but a creature of an unquenchable and vicious hunger. She moved to the cafeteria and stopped over the body of the bull beast she sniffed with slitted nostrils and her mouth opened saliva dripping out of her mouth and teeth onto the body. She reached forward with clawed hands they sunk into the flesh and she bore down on the meat chomping, ripping and gulping it down with a manic frenzy. Within 5 minutes she had devoured it all the way down to the bone. She huffed as she stood over the bloody pool then raised her head and sniffed again. She could smell the flesh coming from inside the kitchen and she went inside.

She feasted generously eating every dead body in every room devouring each one till barely a bloody pool remained. As she ate the last body, the remains of the girl with her intestines dragged on the ground, she raised her head the hand of the girl sliding down and she gave a throaty sigh. Sated she turned and went back down slithering down her body leaving a trail of blood that grew smaller and smaller stopping just outside of the nurses office and her body cracked and snapped as it returned to normal. She pushed inside her bottom half naked, her top just barely holding on and she lied down on the bed. Any blood on her gone, but the stench of it filled the room.

The stench being so strong that Naruto bolted up he looked around and saw the door was open. He looked at Hinata who was sleeping peacefully but her bloomers were gone. He looked away red-faced, "That… was…" then he sniffed again and the smell of blood filled his nose. He got up and went outside and saw the blood trail. He was instantly wary, he followed the trail and noticed it dipping into rooms where fresh blood was spilt, he looked in each one and noticed that all the bodies had vanished. "No, not vanished… eaten." he realized.

The delinquent checked every room from the bottom to the top and all of them were gone eaten by some creature. "I guess i can't relax even here of all places." he realized, and he then wondered about the body in the cafeteria. He ran down and saw it was gone as well all that remained was a pool of blood. "Fuck… this thing was voracious… but it didn't get me or her… maybe saving us for later." He went back to the nurses office and sat down in the chair his gaze fixed forward, he would sit there till morning came and when it did he would take her and get out of this place.

 **-Next Morning-**

Hinata felt the sunlight hit her eyes, and moaning she turned and found there was a blanket on her and on it a pair of bloomers. She was confused, "Last night you threw your bloomers somewhere I couldn't find it so I got you a new pair." Naruto's voice came from behind the curtain.

They Hyuuga heir turned bright pink. "T-Thank you I-I'm sorry for that." she said and she got her new bloomers on, luckily her butt wasn't quite as big as her breasts so it fit just snugly. When she was all dressed she opened the curtain. Naruto was sitting on the chair a knee brought up to his chin, glaring at the door his eyes somewhat puffy and bags hung under them. "D-Didn't you sleep?" She asked.

He nodded, "A bit but while we were asleep some monster came in and ate all the bodies around here… I smelled the blood and I've been up making sure we didn't get eaten in our sleep. Now that you're up we can go." he said, "I've already got food packed." He said pointing to 2 large dufflebags, "and some other stuff as well," this time at two smaller bags. "I don't want to leave you by yourself but I can't stay here and wait to be made a meal will you come with me please?" He asked turning to her.

Hinata was silent, _'it's not like I don't understand his reasoning but we shouldn't go out there but…'_ she looked and then saw the blood that was outside the door. _'Well I should be safe with him… he knows how to fight so… I guess I may as well.'_ she nodded.

Naruto frowned, he saw the hesitation but he was glad she accepted it meant he had less convincing to do. "Alright let's go." he said he stood then stretched and one could hear the bones popping slightly as he did. He grabbed the Duffel bags and Hinata grabbed the two smaller ones.

She looked at him, "Where are we going?" she asked.

He turned his gaze to the door, "When I got here I climbed that huge mountain you saw, this place is big and I saw the ocean I wanted to try going there to see if I could find any other pieces of land. But it's quite a walk." he said warningly he turned to her.

Hinata gave him, at least she hoped it was, a determined look. "Lead the way." She said he nodded and took their first steps a step to a life of blood, adventure, discovery, and pain a journey that would shape their very beings in this strange new world.

* * *

 _ **So in this chapter there is a hint to the nature of what's going on, it's a pretty big hint but I'm sure you'll find it, if you do, I beg that you do not say it in the reviews just say "I saw it" if you found it.**_


	4. Chapter 3

What makes a Man and what makes a Monster  
Written by Silent Soul Ken  
Assisted by Baron Von Nobody  
Summary: It had been a day like any other day, until the giant meteors hit. All those in the blast radius find themselves still alive, having awoken in a new place, but things are not what they seem…

Chapter 3  
Writing on the Wall

Naruto bent low to avoid the branch Hinata following him. It had been roughly 3 hours after they had left the school. The two companions were currently in a dense forest not unlike the jungle that was near the school. However the trees were considerably different they couldn't judge the wildlife though. Still they kept their attention everywhere to avoid an ambush.

Naruto, who had been in the boy scouts, walked tirelessly through the forest using the skill he acquired along with his unbelievably high natural stamina to navigate through. Hinata wasn't fairing too well, her feet were blistered and her legs burning with strain. She didn't want to drag Naruto down and thus never spoke about her current condition. Naruto though noticed her faltering steps and realizing they had walked without rest he stopped. "Let's take a quick break." he said raising a sweaty arm to wipe off an equally sweaty brow.

He heard the long relieved sigh and the 'flump' as she sat down on the ground. He turned to her and sat down as well. He pulled the pack around to the front and opening the zipper he rummaged through it. He pulled out a miniature cooler and opened it inside were two ice cold bottles of water. He tossed one to her and she caught it, he opened his drunk some then poured some on his head. He sighed as the cold water soothed his skin he closed the cap about ⅓ of the water was still left. He could hear desperate gulping and saw she was chugging the water, "Hey, hey don't chug it all down." he reprimanded, "I only got 2 more left and there's no creek nearby." he informed.

She stopped and lowered the bottle gasping loudly. "S-Sorry." She apologized, "It's just I was so thirsty." she muttered.

The blonde nodded, "So am I but we need to conserve our water and food supplies carefully. I don't want to eat… the local wildlife yet." he said. Hinata was silent she understood most of the wildlife bizarrely enough bore signs of being human though there were a few where they were just pure animal with no human signs but even then the thought chilled her. Naruto sighed, rubbing the back of his neck then he straightened, "Hey… when you fall asleep do you have a uh… strange dream?" He asked.

She ran her fingers up and down the chilled bottle of water, "Like what kind of strange?" she asked.

He opened his mouth then closed hesitated then finally spoke again. "A dream where you're in some kind of tube filled with water or something and someone is talking outside of it?" He asked.

Hinata was silent her head raising up as she thought her tongue slid out as she concentrated. Yet oddly enough she couldn't remember a dream like that… or any dreams to be precise. She shook her head, "No I haven't is it important?" She asked.

He shrugged, "I don't know it was just… weird." he said, he reached in the bag and pulled out two reese's chocolate sticks and tossed one to Hinata, she opened it and ate them quietly. The two sat there in silence. From the branches high up a being watched them hunched low. It didn't move just watched as they ate. When they finished they stood up and continued their journey.

The being rubbed a chin with a rather thick finger, "This could be troublesome." it said. Then it jumped to another branch.

Naruto spun around his hands held up already formed into fists. But he saw nothing, Hinata stopped and looked at him. "Is something wrong?" She asked.

He was silent then he lowered his hands, "I heard something from above but maybe it was my imagination." he said, "Let's keep going." he said.

 **-Several Hours later-**

The two had come to a deep outcrop of bushes leaves and stones, they were both exhausted and but the sun was still high in the sky, The two came down under the shadow of the stones. They gave out a deep sigh, their bodies covered in sweat, Naruto reached into his bag and pulled out a towel wiping himself then holding it up to Hinata she grabbed it.

As she toweled herself off Naruto looked and saw it was quite deserted, heartened he decided to try an idea he had. "Stay here I'm gonna get some wood for a fire." and he got up and he walked away into the forest. Hinata for her part relaxed against a rock. As she sat there she adjusted her top slightly. She hadn't told him but when she had put on the new pair of bloomers that morning they were slightly tighter than even she expected. It seemed as if somehow her breasts and butt had gotten even bigger since yesterday. She blamed her hormones on it though the answer was simpler.

During her feeding frenzy her body still hadn't eaten enough to compensate for nearly starving so it ate and ate till it had built up in excess that was converted into fat to store away. However when she had reverted back to normal the fat ended up becoming permanent additions to her body. This fact would remain a mystery to her for the rest of her life, till she met a doctor who would not only save her life but give her a thorough examination.

The heiress fidgeted then she looked at Naruto's pack which was open. Her throat was dry and she wanted some cold water. She swallowed what little saliva there was, looking around she leaned in when she saw no one she peered into the pack and saw the mini cooler she pulled the cooler out popping the top, reached in, grabbed a water bottle, opened it and gulped down half the bottle. She gasped with relief closed it then put the bottle back in and closed the cooler. She set it back down and returned to her original position. She looked around but Naruto was still nowhere to be found.

Bored she got up and began to walk around, to stretch her legs and look around. The rock was quite large and rose up diagonally from the ground jutting out like a ruined building. The ground was clear with some flowers budding out and but as she reached the back of the rock she noticed that it was black as if scorched by some kind of intense heat. She reached to touch when she heard rustling she looked and saw Naruto walking up with piles of sticks in hand.

He walked up and set them down, he looked at Hinata, "What's up?" He asked, she shook her head, and he shrugged. He began grabbed a rock and began to hollow out a hole and when he finished he grabbed a stick to place it down when he froze. He stood up and looked up in the trees, he could see something glowing bright red his danger senses went off and he dropped the stick and ran to Hinata.

Hinata blinked as he charged at her, "What's-" but he tackled her to the ground. She was about to scream when a bright red beam of light shot out and slammed into the stone, the beam melting straight through the rock turning it into magma that leaked down cooling off rapidly in the air hardening back into stone.

Naruto looked up, "Someone's trying to shoot us!" he said, "I don't know how he's doing it but that fucker has a weapon of some sort!" he snarled. The Hyuuga didn't respond Naruto looked and saw her face was bright red. He looked down and saw his chest was mashed against hers. He rolled off of her, "Sorry, but seriously stay down I'll-," but he saw the red flash out the corner of his eyes and he looked at Hinata she saw the look and rolled, he jumped barely making it in time he could feel the heat hitting his shoes and he winced at the temperature. _'Shit that's hot! This fucker is seriously pissing me off!'_ he landed and growled his muscles bulged and his skin felt hot. _'This keeps up and I'll end up… wait that's exactly what I need!'_

He stood up "Come on out on fight me fucker!" he shouted, but he wasn't given a response. He looked around but saw no light, he could hear though something clopping against wood. _'Hooves?'_ the sound stopped, he stood ready to move. Suddenly something flew at him he jumped and landed only to see it was a stone, "What the-GAH!" the beam hit the ground before him an explosion of heated dirt flying at him and he rolled away. "Rrrrgh!" Naruto growled he could feel his body shifting the bones breaking and melting, the skin rupturing only to heal back over, the muscles expanding, the tails growing… "AAAAAGHHHHH!" He roared aloud as he stood transformed in his beast form. The rage filled him threatening to overtake him, but he wrestled it down taking full control once again.

Hinata, who had went to make sure their bags were safe heard the roar. She felt a chill fill her all the way down to her spine. Her body froze, the fear bringing up unwanted memories, memories of when she was nearly killed. She looked and saw a hulking beast. It stood at least 7 feet tall with red-orange fur covering it's legs, torso and arms. 3 Tails whipped about behind it each with a black tip, it's body was slim but the muscles were quite clear, it turned and she saw into it's face. Fur covered the cheeks, neck, and back of the head but the face was Naruto, he stared at her with red slitted pupils then he looked up and leaped at her. She cried out, eyes closing, expecting him to gore her but she felt no pain. There was a slight sizzling sound and a low growl. She opened her eyes and saw he had been hunched over her his arms protectively around her.

Naruto grunted as he stood up, the burnt hole already fading away, "That beam hurts but it's not strong enough to rip through my body." he said. He looked around but as he did he couldn't help but think, _'This is so weird.'_ Naruto felt like he was inside of a shell or, to be more accurate, a suit. This beast like body he felt around him but he felt it wasn't really him. He could see himself inside the body, could see his body stretched out like one of those medical diagrams. He moved his body forward with simple steps and looked at his hand then twitched a finger. His hand curved into a claw and slashed with such speed it was too fast for a normal human to see. _'Wow such a simple motion could have a reaction… I wonder if… shit!'_ he heard it something whistling through the air. He turned and dashed forward and his hand shot out grabbing a rock the size of Hinata's head.

Naruto crushed it and tossed the pieces down, "Hinata stay close to me." he said, she looked at him then nodded and got up shuffling nervously to her. "I don't know why but he's targeting you." he told her. She shivered and grabbed his waist protectively. He raised an arm over her as he looked around carefully, _'What's this guy planning? Is he gonna attack or what?'_ he heard the whistling and his hand shot out again grabbing a rock from midair he threw it on the ground only to reach out to snag another rock more rocks began to fly from a variety of directions he eventually placed his body over Hinata's and he gritted his teeth as the rocks bombarded his body with such force that he could feel his skin already welting in bruises. It was then an animalistic sense warned him, he rolled to the side as he did a beam of heat and light flew into the trees. He looked up then he looked at Hinata, "Hey I got a plan do you trust me?" he asked.

Hinata felt a dread rise up but she knew that he wouldn't let herself be hurt, "Yes." she said.

Naruto nodded, "Good now listen to me carefully." he said and he explained his plan. "Ready?" he asked, she nodded. Naruto got up and shouted, "Alright you wanna play hide and seek motherfucker? Fine! I'll sniff you out!" and he ran toward the woods.

Hinata stood up, "Naruto wait! Come back!" she shouted but he didn't respond as he disappeared into the foliage. She shivered as she looked around fearful. She stepped forward slightly, a sudden urge filled her and she jumped to the side. A beam of red light shot over her bursting through the woods reducing the trees in it's path to ashes. She rolled onto her back, _'Naruto was right it's targeting me but why? What did I do?'_ she looked around watching for any sign of an attack. But her eyes weren't as good as Naruto's so all she could do was wait.

 **-Naruto-**

Naruto moved quietly, with each passing second his command of his body was growing by leaps and bounds. He could make more minute and careful moves, and could even now move quietly. His feet barely rustling the grass, his ears pricked listening for the hidden enemy. He could hear the rough panting and leaves rustling as it jumped from branch to branch staying high. His own eyes could see through the dark possibly part of the fox of this form. _'What am I anyway?'_ he looked at his hands, they were large far larger than his body should've supported he could put a watermelon in his hand and it would fit quite snugly. The claws were also short, though a quick swipe at a tree showed they were razor sharp. His legs were powerful, he was quite sure if he jumped with all his strength he could jump far higher than the trees could go. He already knew the power of his arms and fists they could pummel bone to dust, and could possible even punch through solid rock though he would try when he could transform at will.

He raised his head and sniffed, despite it being the most human thing about him his nose was anything but human. He could smell so many things and with such clarity he could identify each smell and could even see it. The smell of his own sweat, the smell of a bunch of flowers bathed in sunlight, of dung being eaten by flies, he could smell Hinata's own skin and a part of him felt his mouth drool at the thought of her meat, while another part wanted her for his own. He felt a conflict of emotions at that. _'The fuck… I want to eat her… or fuck her... this body is messing with my mind.'_ he paused, _'Why did this happen to me? Why did this happen to all of us? Did I have to kill him! Did I have to kill anybody…? Will I have to kill more… how many more? Will I have to kill this guy too?'_ he stood there his body becoming limp. Then he heard her scream, and his anger flared up he looked and sniffed the air. "THERE YOU ARE!" he shouted and he jumped straight up.

"How in the-!?" a familiar voice shouted. But Naruto's hand shot up breaking the branch and wrapping around a hairy leg. He pulled and the body of a beast came down. He jerked his arm and released the beast flying into a tree where it crashed and slumped against the wood. Naruto walked forward, "Son of a… I thought I knew your voice!" the familiar voice came from the beast. Naruto paused he knew that voice.

He took a step forward, "Shikamaru?" he asked.

He was answered with a sniff, "God you stink of blood like her. But damn it's not as bad as her!" came Shikamaru's voice.

Naruto growled, "The fuck is that supposed to mean?" he said coldly.

Shikamaru stood and walked forward Naruto could see him fully, he was taller than before not as tall as Naruto but still quite large. He was probably a head short, his arms were thin almost spindly his fingers were thick looking like , but his legs which were covered in thick fur were quite large. His chest and upper body was also bulky, what was the strangest thing though was his horns. They were stag horns but they were quite thick and larger than normal and seemed to be split with some kind of strange film coming out of them, the film were glowing with a reddish glow. His face was a long deer face however his eyes were a clear indication of humanity. They stared at him with an intensity he had only seen when Shikamaru was deadly serious at something, which was usually a video game.

Shikamaru's horns shuddered then suddenly they began to merge into a pair of normal horns. "Look man I got no beef with you for real, and normally I wouldn't have one with whoever the hell is with you but this is a dog eat dog world where the top predators rule the world and in case you haven't smelt it she's one of the top predators! So I'm gonna do my fucking best to kill her before she kills me!" he snapped.

Naruto sighed, "Dude she isn't dangerous it's Hinata Hyuga, you know the daughter of the Hyuga family?" he said.

The deer shook his head, "Look maybe because you eat meat you can't smell it, but I can smell it! She stinks of corpses, blood and death in general! It's horrendous my nose can barely smell anything else no wonder you were able to sneak up on me! She is dangerous dude!" he said his voice almost pleading.

The blonde looked at where Hinata was, then at Shikamaru "Look I'm sure she can't transform and even if she can I can take her down." he reassured.

Shikamaru raised a dubious eyebrow, "You can't even transform at will." he said.

The delinquent flushed at that, "I'm working on it!" he said, he waved it away, "Point is I can take her down. I've already dealt with 5 others before you and trust me when I say I got the power to beat her should it come down to it." he said hoping to sound confident.

Shikamaru's eyebrow went even higher, "But could you kill her if you can't subdue her?" he asked. Naruto was silent and he looked away, Shikamaru was about to open his mouth when he saw Naruto's face. It was grim and heavy with a weight that explained already what had happened. "I see… so then what are you proposing I go with you?" he asked. Naruto's body was shrinking a slight steam coming off him as he returned to his human form. Shikamaru watched as he shrank back to normal.

Naruto looked up at him, "Yeah I figure we're better off together and you're a smart guy I know you'll figure out what the fuck is going on here." Shikamaru sighed and his own body began to revert to normal the steam also erupting from his body hiding the transformation. Naruto looked at his old friend and noticed he was wearing some loose camo pants his chest was bare showing the very slight muscle definition he had also his normally styled hair hung low just over his shoulders. Shikamaru was a thinker not a fighter. "Mind telling me about your little laser beams?" asked the blond.

The black haired boy shrugged, "Honestly I don't know how to explain it. All I know is I can use my horns to absorb sunlight and then I can turn that sunlight into that… bio-laser. Well I've seen weirder abilities. Like one guy, who looked like Shino I can't be sure, could turn into a giant beetle and he had insects coming out of his body." Naruto shuddered at that. "So do you want to know?" he asked.

Naruto looked at him, "Know what?" he asked.

The lazy genius sighed, "How to transform at will?" he said as if it was the obvious question.

But he was surprised when Naruto shook his head, "No I want to do it on my own." He said, he turned forward, "Hinata!" he shouted, "It's ok I got him." he said. Her form appeared between the trees. She smiled as she saw but it quickly turned into a frown as she saw Shikamaru.

She stepped back, "I-Is that what was attacking us?" she asked.

Shikamaru placed his hands in his pockets, "Last I checked I was as much a person as you not a thing. Unless that's what you want me to refer to as from now on?" he said his voice cold and irritated.

Naruto shook his head, "Relax Hinata he's with us now." he assured.

She looked at him, "B-But what if he tries to eat or kill us?" she said her voice fearful.

But the blond just waved his hand, "No problem he's a herbivore and we've already talked. So it's no big deal. Trust me we're better off with him on our side. You know how smart he is." he said.

Hinata eventually gave a begrudging, _'It's true he's one of the smartest students in school but that was another time.'_ she looked at him, "Why were you targeting me?" she demanded.

Shikamaru looked at Naruto who rubbed his head trying to find an answer, "Because you smell like blood and corpses." said the black haired teen, "It's pretty clear to an herbivore like me that you are trouble." he said. Hinata stared at him then she looked at herself, she wasn't the cleanest kid but she doubt she smelled like blood. It was then that Shikamaru sniffed, "Have you guys bathed?" he asked. They shook their heads, Shikamaru was silent as he rubbed his head, "Fine come with me I'll take you guys to my place." he said.

Naruto gave him a look, "You're place?" he asked.

The black haired genius nodded, "Yeah my place, small cave about a 3 minute walk, got a good supply of clean water, it's close to here where there's good grass." the blonde's eyebrows went up, "Yeah I eat grass, I can do it even now if I wanted to but I'm not hungry right now." he said, "So you gonna stand there or we gonna go and get you cleaned up?" the Hinata looked at Naruto and he looked at her.

Naruto rubbed his head, "Yeah might as well." and with that they grabbed their items and followed Shikamaru.

After a minute of silence Shikamaru spoke, "So where you guy's heading?" he asked.

The blonde looked to the north, "There's a canyon up ahead we wanna get to it to explore the island see if there's a way off of it." he explained.

The lazy genius turned to him, "How do you know we're on a island?" he queried.

Naruto pointed to the mountain that could be seen even with the foliage, "Up there I got pretty close to the top and saw the entire island, it's big but it's pretty small compared to most islands. I figured that if I found the ocean I could find a way off this rock. See if there's anything other than this place." he explained.

Silence emerged, then Hinata spoke, "Shikamaru, where do you think we are anyways?" she asked.

The shirtless boy shrugged, "No idea I'm trying to think of everyplace that could exist on our world and nothing comes to mind. However they say that only 95% of the earth is mapped but then again that final 5% is the ocean floor." He said

The Hyuuga was silent, "What if we're in… the future?" she asked.

Shikamaru shrugged, "That's the most likely scenario, but even if it is doesn't explain why we're alive especially since, at least I was, at ground zero of where those meteors hit. We should be dead but we're not." he reasoned.

The girl nodded, "Yes that's also been troubling me, we're alive and not only that so far all of us transform into… well most of us at least, into beasts." Naruto felt his temple twitch at the word beasts but he didn't speak. He was just listening trying to see how they felt about their situation. "Also there's the school it doesn't look like it's suffered age long decay but that it's recent and hasn't been put out of place." Shikamaru stopped at that.

He turned to face Hinata, "What do you mean the school? Are you saying the school building is here?" he questioned, looking concerned.

Naruto decided to put his voice in finally, "Oh yeah it's here, so is old man Ichiraku's ramen shop." This caused the two to stare at him. "What?" he shot defensively feeling the pressure.

Shikamaru rubbed his forehead, "I keep forgetting you're a moron sometimes but the ramen shop is here? Why not hole up there and just survive on Ramen for the rest of your life?" he asked.

The blond shrugged, "Cause I can't sit still anyway that just doesn't work out for me at all, anyway do I look like someone that can make ramen from scratch?" He asked, "The old man never uses pre made stuff he makes it all himself." he pointed out.

There was silence that hung for a few seconds, "This changes a few things," Shikamaru said, "It'll go over your head," he said to Naruto quickly, "Hinata come here we'll talk." he said and the girl looked at him then at Naruto who shrugged, she frowned but walked to Shikamaru to talk. They resumed their walk.

Shikamaru bent his head low, "So you're saying the school is here and it wasn't aged away at all?" he asked.

She nodded, "There wasn't like any grass or plants growing on the concrete nothing on the walls, there wasn't even a small amount growing on the walls." she confirmed.

The genius raised his hand to his chin, "No matter how I try to put that in with everything else it just shatters all my other theories. Except one," he inhaled a bit then he sighed, "We're on another planet." he said.

Hinata's eyebrows went up, "That… fits but why are we alive? Does this planet have an atmosphere like earth?" she wondered.

He shrugged, "Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't, maybe that's why we're like the way we are. The atmosphere probably affected our DNA somehow. Changing us so we can adapt to this new environment." he offered, Hinata was silent. This theory was by far the most logical but there was still one kernel of doubt in her mind. Fortunately Shikamaru had the same thought, "But that doesn't' explain how we survived the meteors, I can say for a fact that the explosion got me. I remember that really clearly." he said.

There was a long silence then Naruto chirped, "Hey this where we're going?" he asked. Shikamaru looked up and saw a cave, he nodded.

He walked inside, and they could see the slight embers of a fire, the black haired teen walked in and he grabbed some dried leaves and put them on the embers, then began placing sticks then branches as the fire grew. He stood as the fire illuminated the cave. Naruto looked around, it was a sizable cave with one entrance and one exit he could hear water dripping over the fire and turned to the source. He saw a small pool of water where water was flowing from two paths both of them falling into the pool. Naruto could see what would happen one could go in the pool of water and let the water from the path fall on his head, could also use that water to drink, especially if it didn't come from the pool below. Naruto walked up to it, and he saw that it went down deeper. "Do you know where it leads?" he asked

Shikamaru nodded, "it leads into a cavern system. But I didn't want to risk getting lost so I didn't go that far." Naruto rubbed his chin. He then reached for his bag and pulled out some hot dogs. "Holy shit a hotdog? Damn I hate being a vegetarian now." groaned the genius then he paused, "Wait you're gonna eat before you take a bath?" He asked.

Naruto shook his head, "Nah I'll use it as a flare, but first Hinata wash up I'll be outside." he said, and he walked out the cave and began to stretch.

Shikamaru blinked "He's not thinking of exploring the caves is he? I know where the general path leads to but what's he hoping to find?" Hinata shrugged, she walked to the pool of water and pulled her clothes off and dipped a toe into the water, it was strangely warm to the touch but the water dripping down was cold. She slid into the water and sighed with pleasure she rubbed her skin and closed her eyes as she gently kicked to stay afloat eventually she submerged herself and began rubbing her body violently getting as much sweat, dirt and grime off her body that she could.

The lazy genius stood with the gold haired vagabond, "Dude I know you have some crazy physical capacity but I don't think you'll find your way through and back if you die down there it won't be worth it." he said.

The blond grinned, "Well I'm going down for two reasons, one is to find another cave possibly one that'll get us closer to the canyon giving us a place to rest, and two wanna see if there's some fish down there, if so I'll need them even if they are… well…" his grin faded, he lowered his gaze as he straightened, "No matter how I try to avoid one day I'm gonna have to eat some meat even if was from someone formerly human. Honestly that scares me." he admitted. "To think I'm eating something that if it doesn't look human now it was then it really makes me wonder what I'll be." he clenched his hands, "Am I going to be a monster? Some animal that eats other beings just so he can survive one more day?" he held up his fists unclenching them and looking at them, "I don't know man… I… I just don't know." he said.

Shikamaru was silent, then he sighed, "Dude chill out. Do you really get worked up over eating food? Look technically everything animals and people eat was at one point a living thing, greens, veggies, fruits, meat, and to a certain extent certain candies. It was at point a living thing, yeah it's not something like someone who is formerly human but… well we did it, and I'm doing it now in a sense, the grass is just as alive as you or me, the plants are too I'm killing them so I can live. Look there's no simple answer to this question you got, there just isn't. But if you wanna live to see the next day you're gonna have to make some tough decisions including eating meat. You can try to survive on a diet of fruits and veggies but I don't think that'll work for you or for the princess. So you just gotta make the best of it." he said, "Not my best and most logical speech but this is just a really sticky subject." Shikamaru admitted.

Naruto chuckled, "Dude that barely made any sense but… yeah I get it. It's me or them and I can't really say no to food. No matter the moral issue of it all." he sighed, "Man I dunno... don't think I'll go check out what's down there today, think I'll just roast some hotdogs and hamburgers and call it a day." he said grinning as Shikamaru's face went sour.

The black haired boy turned, "You're an ass you know that." he said.

The blond shrugged, "Takes one to know one, don't tell me you forgot when you broke that one girl's heart when she tried to date you." came the snarky reply.

Shikamaru shook his head, "I already told you that girl was bad news, you know she's part of a gang and she was really trying to get me in it? Fuck that, I don't do gangs." Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Oh yeah it was a ploy I saw that one coming a mile away, that's why I fucking nailed her like that I'm not gonna get thrown into that gang war shit, too lazy and too happy being a nobody." he said.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "No shit who was she working for?" he asked.

The black haired boy sighed, "No idea just some small time punks, nothing to worry over." he said, "They wanted me cause they thought I could tell them how to get into places without getting caught," he explained.

The blond wagged a knowing finger, "Ah but you can, you remember when we snuck into that game store and took that game that had just came out?" he reminded.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, "For one, fuck you, you wanted that game as badly as I did, and for two, you weren't gonna pay nearly a hundred bucks for that particular copy." he said.

Naruto stuck his tongue out, "So what it was worth it." he said peevishly.

The black haired boy brought his palm to his face, "You broke your console the game pissed you off so much, you had to buy another console just to finish it." he jabbed in.

A humph was the response, there was a pause then Naruto turned to Shikamaru. "Hey man have you ever had a weird dream where you are in like a tube filled with water and you can hear voices outside?" he asked.

Shikamaru scratched his head, "Yeah once but never got it afterward why?" he asked.

The blonde shrugged, "Just curious had that dream a few times so wondering if you had it too." he said.

They were silent again, they then heard footsteps and turned to face Hinata, "Um I'm done washing." She said, "I wanted to wash my clothes but decided to wait for you to finish what you wanted to do first and…" she began.

Naruto waved his hand, "I'm not going we'll find the canyons how we originally planned." he said, "I'll take a bath then I'll get to cooking." he said, "Hotdogs and burgers for us." he said, "Well us two not sure what you'll eat." he said looking sheepishly at Shikamaru.

The lazy genius rolled his eyes, "you're lucky I got some berries and fruit to tide me over." he said.

The blond grinned, "Ok let's eat then." and they went inside.

It was no exaggeration to say that night was a night of joy and merriment, recollection, stories, and tall tales filled the cave and the cruelty of the world, for that hour was forgotten. But like all things reality came back into place. Shikamaru picked at his teeth with his pinky nail as he laid on his side, "So we'll be going to the canyon tomorrow huh?" he asked.

Naruto, who was laying on his back nodded, "Yep." was the simple answer.

Hinata was silent, then she looked up, "Shikamaru should we tell him about… you know." she said.

The black haired teenager nodded, "Don't see why not." Naruto looked between them.

He then realized what they meant, "you mean about what's going on here?" he asked, with a nod the two began to explain. Naruto was silent, "While that is a good theory there's a few things that fall short. For one what kind of alien planet has water that we can not only submerge ourselves but also drink with no worries? Plus I've got a good smell of this place, this air doesn't smell weird at all, it smells like normal air. The grass, the ground, it all smells like earth, sure there's a few weird fruits and plants but this feels like earth." he said.

Shikamaru sighed, "Then it looks like we're back to square one." he said.

But Naruto shook his own, "No it gives me a theory, what if we're on earth but one in a different dimension?" he offered.

There was a brief pause, "That's… not bad. Someone is thinking. Hmmm…" another pause, "Well we'll figure it out later, I'm tired." Shikamaru yawned pointedly and he turned onto so he was facing away, "See you in the morning." he said. Naruto nodded and looked around eventually he went to a wall and rested his back on it, shuffling slightly then sighing and closing his eyes Hinata watched them both, she looked around trying to find something to lay her head on. Eventually she got up and went out the cave and began to grab some leaves, pulling them off, when she had enough she placed them on the ground and clumped them together she then laid her head down imagining it was a pillow and closed her eyes.

 **-Several Hours later-**

Hinata rose from her slumber, though she wasn't technically awake. Her eyes opened but they were glossed over, unfocused. Her body hissed as it began to transform, her hunger not fully sated even after eating all the food earlier that night. She stood her body hung low over Naruto the mouth opening saliva hanging in ribbons. Suddenly there was a whistling and Hinata turned to the entrance she saw a bird like form it stood then it stepped back and she saw a fresh carcass, her smell organs on the side of her head sniffed the meat and she moved forward her feet silent as she stepped out the cave, the bird moving away.

They moved till they were in the forest and when they had the bird released the carcass and flew into the canopy. Hinata didn't bother to look after it as she pounced on the meat her teeth gnashing and chomping the flesh stripping it to get to the soft and flavorful organs. She devoured the corpse within minutes, when she finished she stood and her tongue slid out licking her entire face of blood before sliding back in. She looked at the messy boney carcass, her hunger was satisfied for now. She snorted and went back to the cave her body slowly returning to normal her clothes falling off her body as she did she walked back nude but her conscious mind still asleep the beast just falling asleep slumping down onto the pillow of leaves and sleep claimed it.

 **-Next Morning-**

Naruto was awoken by a smell, he had smelt it before and it caused him to sit up instantly his body bolting up only for a brief sense of vertigo to hit him making him stagger. But he shook it off quickly and ran outside. Blood he could smell it in the air, so close that he shivered at the thought. He turned to see Shikamaru behind him his head raised high his nostrils sniffing. "We need to go." Naruto said.

Shikamaru frowned, "Yeah out there where we'll probably get mauled. We could be walking into one hell of a deathtrap." he pointed out. Naruto was silent as he thought then he went inside the cave.

Hinata sat up she placed a hand on her head it felt like the after effects of a hangover when she was forced to drink once. Her father grounded her and she had one hell of a headache in the morning. The feeling she had now was just the same, she saw Naruto, "Whatsh the commotion about?" She asked her voice slightly slurred.

He stopped, "There's a beast outside somewhere it killed something close by which means it'll be waiting for us if we got out that way." he informed.

Hinata was more alert at that, "Buh-bwuh? A-A beast? Outside!? What're we gonna do?" She asked.

Naruto smiled, "I think I have a plan." And he walked to the small watering hole.

Shikamaru walked up as Naruto pulled off his pants. "You know there's a chance you can die down there." he said, "Who know's what's down there." he pointed out again.

The blonde shrugged, "You're right we **don't** know what's down there. But we **do** know what's out there." he said, "See you guys later." and with that he slid in head first. Shikamaru sighed as he sat down and inhaled deeply but when he did he smelt it, the smell of blood, rotting flesh and organs. He turned his head slowly to look at Hinata and exhaled, breathing through his nostrils he could smell it clearly she reeked of it. However he could see the fear in her eyes, and could even smell the endorphins pumping out. It was strange that she was so afraid of something she did… but if she did do it would she be as fearful as she is now? He doubted she could be a predator with such a fearful face but he couldn't utterly rule her out based on that. He narrowed his eyes and turned away, he would have a long chat with Naruto if he came back.

 **-Naruto-**

Naruto swam through the underwater cave which was being lit with strange moss that glowed, luckily so far it was a one way trip. However what worried him was that there would be no air pocket. He had about a minutes worth of air in his lungs and 10 seconds had already gone by. _'50 seconds left,'_ he looked up but saw rock with some stalactites he kept going forward using the rocks surrounding him to push himself further. The passage was mainly rock wall below the glowing moss was illuminating his way, with a few openings in the rock showing a murky darkness.

He kept swimming looking up every 5 seconds, when he got to about 48 seconds of air, by his mental count, he saw it the rock curving up slightly, he swam up but did so slowly not wanting to impale himself on a stalactite. He was glad he did there was a pocket of air but in the middle of the pocket was a stalactite. Naruto's head emerged from the hole and he let out the breath with a huge gasp, then inhaled deeply. Floating there the young man looked around then grabbed the rocky spike and shook it but he didn't have the strength… he closed his eyes focusing on the feeling to transform. But focusing it to just his arm. However nothing happened, "Figures." he said, "I haven't mastered transforming under my own power." he acknowledged he then had an idea. He went under the water, and placed his feet on the rock wall below and began to push with his legs. He poured in his whole body into it, the rock cracked then it broke. He spun slightly but with it out of the way he was sure they would be safe from it.

He however did not throw it but held onto it just in case something was in here. He went back up to get some air and went back to swimming. He continued down the path as he did he noticed the path was widening, _'Oh a larger body of water?'_ he looked up and saw that the rock ceiling was going higher and higher up. He swam up and his head broke the surface. He gasped as he floated on the surface he looked around and saw he was in some kind of cave, there was more of that glowing moss on the walls enough to slightly light the area. He could see a smooth stone beach, and he moved toward only to stop.

He could feel it, danger was nearby, he turned in the water looking around and he saw it a shark fin coasting on the surface. Normally he would've swam for the beach but he had a weapon and he was confident that even if he lost it he could still win. So far his transformations triggered during anger, or the desire to protect something. But he was sure the broken stalactite would work if he hit the shark at the right time. He sunk under the water holding the stalactite tightly. He could see thanks to the moss above and below, it's fin belied it's rather large size though he was sure it was a bull shark but it's size could've made it a great white. He held the sharp stone in hand as it swam at him with incredible speed. He moved as fast as he could swinging the stone down. But the shark's open mouth met his torso. He felt himself being pushed by it's powerful body while it's teeth clamped down.

He still had the rock and tried to stab down but it's size was being held back by the water. He swung it down and it pierced the skin but not with enough force to penetrate fully. He grabbed with both hands this time raising his hands up only for his back to hit a wall and he felt the teeth sink into his skin! The blonde grunted as the water was turning crimson. His eyes were crimson as well his body was changing even as it bled out or rather because it was bleeding out. Muscles bulging and fur bristling the water bubbling from the steam his body was putting out. He clenched the rock tightly with one hand while a claw went for the shark's eye. The nail sunk in popping the eyeball and causing the shark to thrash. He felt the teeth dig into him but his regenerative ability was already countering the swung down and the rock hit it's head penetrating to the brain. But it's body still bucked and writhed.

The transformed human punched the rock down again and it went into the shark's mouth where it staggered. Then it's teeth lost their purchase and it began to float upside down up to the surface. Naruto grabbed it's body and went up when he emerged from the surface he tossed it's carcass onto the rock beach. He panted as his body began to shrink down steam again emerging in a thick cloud covering his body as he returned to his human form. He grunted as he fell forward on his knees and bent over. He panted then he got up and reached for his torso. The bite marks were gone and his wounds completely healed, however he could feel the new skin compared to his previously tested flesh. _'I guess I'll have that as a constant reminder.'_ he thought and moving back to the water he dived down to make his way back.

 **-Shikamaru and Hinata-**

Shikamaru sat near the water's edge never taking his eyes off Hinata who sat across from him looking frightened. "He's been gone for too long… maybe something got him? O-Or he drowned even!?" She threw out her panic quite clear.

He sighed, "Just calm down it's only been 4 minutes who knows how far these underwater caves go fo-" but he stopped as his ears twitched. Perhaps it was part of his mutation but his hearing was much more sensitive now and he could hear the sound of something moving in the water. He stood up, "Get back." he said and he closed his eyes and his body transformed the steam covering it and he emerged in his monster form. He held up both hands ready to grapple whatever it was that was down below. The water bubbled then from it a golden head emerged and Shikamaru relaxed. He reached down and grabbed Naruto pulling him out, "Don't scare me like that." he said.

Naruto smiled as Shikamaru dropped him onto the ground, "Thanks for the lift, I found a huge cave down the path but you can't make it in one unless you can hold your breath for 2 minutes straight." he said, "There was a shark but I took care of it, I think it should taste good for me and Hinata." he said.

Shikamaru looked at Hinata who had rushed to Naruto and was looking him up and down. He gave Naruto a look that said, 'we need to talk later,' the blonde shrugged but nodded. "Let me get our stuff and we'll get going." he said.

 **-3 Minutes Later-**

Naruto emerged from the water with the bag of supplies on his shoulder, he swum to the shore, emerging from the water behind him was Hinata and Shikamaru. Hinata swam to the shore while Shikamaru looked breathless his lung capacity was less than the average person due to his constant ducking out of Gym. They all went to the shore and Naruto began to get a fire going with sticks that were kept dry due to being in a plastic container eventually he had a fire going that illuminated the cave. He looked around and saw it was quite large were it not for the water it could be turned into a small town if there were enough people inside. He turned and saw the shark he had killed still there though some flies were starting to buzz around. He grabbed it and hauled it to the waters edge. "Not a bad find." Shikamaru said, when Naruto walked to the shoreline and shoved the shark in to clean and eviscerate it.

Naruto shrugged, "It was a gamble that paid off." he said, "So…" he spoke in a low tone now, "What did you want to talk about?" he asked.

The black haired genius sighed, "Not now I wanna see around this place first." he said and he got up and walked away leaving Naruto to his work.

Shikamaru could see the cave had a few split paths and he grabbed a piece of wood and held it aloft as he explored one path. As he went down it he could see a path that joined with the one he was and a quick check showed it was the split path. He was a little annoyed but glad that was out of the way. He continued down the original path. As he walked the path broadened out and he was in a type of small atrium of stone.

He looked around and looked up to see glittering jewels, that made it look like starlight he smiled as he looked and then saw it, on a wall were writing. It read _"What is real? Is real something you can touch and feel? Is it something you can taste and smell? Is it the feeling of your heart beating in your breast? Or is it the the thing you see before you? When you close your eyes do you know if you are dreaming? Or are you seeing what is really real?"_ he stared at that writing most people wouldn't understand it but he'd heard of something like this, it was a philosophical question that went into the question of whether people were actually awake or whether they were just the dreams of a great being and by sleeping their dreams was actually reality.

Yet when he thought about it, there was something strangely compelling about it especially the part of whether this was real or a dream. He remembered Naruto asking him about a dream that he was floating in water once… but before he could think on it he smelled cooking meat and knew Naruto was cooking up the shark he headed back for now he would explore more later.

 **-Naruto-**

Naruto hummed gently as he slowly turned the sliced pieces of shark meat over and over on the pan using a fork, having slathered them with some oil and seasoning they were emitting a wonderful smell. He had carefully cut the shark up a process that took up about 10 minutes separating the parts of it that were inedible and that would ruin the flavor of the meat. Naruto felt the beast want to spring out and devour the meat but he was holding it back with his will power. Hinata was watching him cook quietly but he never saw the slight twitches of her eye and and jaw nor was she aware of them herself. He had several more pieces of meat to cook but would first try this to see how it was. He heard steps and looked up to see Shikamaru coming.

Naruto laid the pan down to the side and reached into the bag he pulled out what looked like a cantaloupe and tossed it to Shikamaru, "Here I know you can't eat meat anymore." he said and he went back to the pan. Shikamaru caught it then he brought up his knee and brought down the fruit. It popped apart leaking liberal amounts of juice. He raised one half to his lips and drank the juice which was sweet tasting like a fruit punch mix almost.

Naruto went back to cooking and after a few more minutes he pulled off the shark fin and brought it to his mouth. After some blowing he took a bite of it. He chewed, he had sufficiently cooked it enough that the scales didn't slice his mouth open the taste was a bit odd but was good enough he could swallow. He held out the piece to Hinata. She sniffed it then grabbed it and bit into it. Her face wrinkled slightly, "N-No thank you." she said, Naruto shrugged and at the remainder of the meat. He reached into the pack and pulled out some steaks and hotdogs. He set those in the pan to cook while grabbing another to slather on some more shark meat.

 **-30 Minutes later-**

Naruto let out a belch as he rubbed his bloated stomach having eaten the entire shark at least what he could eat. The rest of it's body, mainly it's organs, was in the water which decomposed in the water smaller fish swimming up to snatch up some bits and pieces. Shikamaru sat close by having finished 3 more of the fruit that Naruto had tossed, and Hinata was stretching, "I'm gonna look around for a bit." She said and she walked away. When she was out of sight Shikamaru looked at Naruto.

The blonde sighed then waved him to come closer, Shikamaru scooted over till he was next to the blonde. "She's dangerous while you were swimming that scent of blood from this morning was all over her. She was the predator." he said.

Naruto rubbed his head, "This again? You sure it's her? Cause I've never seen her transform ever." He countered.

Shikamaru nodded, "Yeah I'm sure and just because you haven't seen it doesn't mean it hasn't happened. It's quite possible she transforms when she's not fully conscious." he suggested.

The delinquent scratched his chin which was starting to get some slight stubble, "You mean like in her sleep or something?" He asked.

Another nod, "Exactly that would mean that she transforms when the human part of her is asleep it gives the beast free reign which means if we're not careful we'll end up on the menu ourselves." Shikamaru warned.

Naruto shrugged, "And how exactly do we keep ourselves off the menu?" he asked, "I can stay up for a few hours but I'll need sleep eventually." he pointed out.

The black haired genius was silent, "So far she seems to only transform when she's asleep AND hungry which means she has a high appetite. While her human self will be satisfied that doesn't mean the monster is satisfied so we gotta over satisfy her human self till she can transform at will and we know how much she needs to eat." He concluded.

The blonde look up to see Hinata walking back toward them, he gave a nod and Shikamaru was silent, when she went up to them Naruto smiled, "Find anything?" He asked.

She nodded, "Some strange words on a wall and there seems to be a part of the cave that leads to a river and out to somewhere else it's quite fascinating. But uh… I think something else might be here I had a feeling like I was being watched or something." she said, "So I came back just in case." she said.

Shikamaru frowned, "That would be a problem we already had a shark here who the hell knows what else is here." he looked at Naruto.

But the blonde shrugged, "Gives me a chance to learn how to transform so I'm not complaining." he said eventually.

Shikamaru closed his eyes, "Seriously I know you like a fight but this is getting a bit ridiculous we're not a bunch of battle hungry fighting machines you know." he said.

Naruto shook his head, "It's not entirely that, the more I fight the more I learn about that body, you might find this hard to believe but when we're in that form we move differently and the body overall feels different. I can't explain it but it feels like we're piloting like a power armor or something. I want to know what that body can do fully." he said.

The black haired boy opened his eyes, "For once you're right these new bodies feel different from our current ones. Not only do we now have new senses and tastes but these beast bodies don't function the same as our human ones. I'm still learning stuff about myself though I've learned quite a lot already." he said.

Hinata looked at them confused but not wanting to butt in, then she remembered, "Shikamaru did you see those weird words?" she asked.

He nodded, "Kinda strange someone put those there." He said, "I mean what point does it serve?" he said.

Naruto blinked, "what words?" he asked finally, Shikamaru and Hinata explained when they finished he scratched his head, "That's weird it's not like we're dreaming right now we're awake, and we can feel this stuff and taste this stuff." he said, "It's not like we're in some kind of giant dream or something that'd be too… what's the word coim, coin?" he struggled.

Shikamaru though knew, "Coincidental." Naruto nodded, "Yeah that's just too coincidental all of us dreaming the same dream? Just not possible." He said, he took another bite of the fruit in hand. "Not bad this, but it sucks not being able to eat meat man, you two are lucky. Though technically Naruto you can eat fruit can't you?" He asked.

The blonde nodded, "Yeah I can if i want to can't eat grass that's for sure, but fruit and veggies yeah." He said.

The black haired boy nodded, "Huh, well…" he stretched, "I'm gonna look around the cave a bit more see if I can find an exit." he said, and he got up and walked away.

 **-Later On-**

Naruto stood at the water's edge looking into his own reflection he held up his hands clenching, and unclenching it. He remembered being in the body of his monster form, he could feel those muscles, and feel his fingers. But like he realized before it was like being in a suit a suit that was connected innately with his muscles and nerves. Even the simplest of movements would cause a huge reaction. He tried to envision himself in his monster form… feel the muscles and bone, the nerves. He closed his eyes concentrating, on the sensation but he didn't transform. He sighed then sat down, he looked back to see Hinata resting on the ground asleep. He scratched his head, _'Where the heck is Shikamaru?'_ he wondered.

 **-Shikamaru-**

Shikamaru stared at those strange letters on the wall he felt that they weren't just random scribble, a feeling in the back of his mind the subconscious told him it was very important. Most of the time people would ignore the subconscious but Shikamaru had been taught that his mind was a valuable ally and one that he should pay very close attention to. He ran the words over and over in his mind. He began to walk as he did held up his hands looking at them, then touched the stone wall, rough and coarse as most forms of stone was. But not all stone was rough and coarse some could be quite smooth, usually stone on cave walls. The giant passageways in caves were created by a numerous series of objects but the most common form was water. The stone in his hand should've been smooth due to the water but it was rough.

He frowned he looked to his left and saw another large body of water that also had the glowing moss. His gaze swept this new cove and he realized he was lost he sighed, went up to the edge and sat down. As he stared at the water he rubbed the stone on the ground which was somewhat smooth but mostly rough. It all felt real, but somehow it felt… wrong but he couldn't explain it. He sat down thinking on it when he heard the sound of claws clattering on stone. He concentrated on transforming when he heard a roar and saw a beast running toward him on all fours. From what little he could see it's mouth was frothing with saliva as it charged like a rabid animal.

Shikamaru considered his options it was coming too fast for him to transform he could run into the water and try to outswim it or outrun it. The swimming was a desperate bid as he wasn't much of a good swimmer and he didn't know if it lead to caves and if it did where those caves went. If he ran he could try to get it just as lost as he was, either way he could get out paced. His best bet was to run and hopefully he could use the environment to help. He knew how to access some of his new beastial strength in this current form mainly his leg power. But it would wear them down much quicker than normal, he had to be careful and precise.

He turned and ran toward the cave heading down the left passage the beast ran after him snarling and growling. He ran down the hall gritting his teeth at the pain of his near bare feet running on the ground. He heard it snarl and he jumped forward bending his legs up and landing he bounded up into the ceiling. The beast leapt at him when he had first landed Shikamaru turned his body so his feet landed on the ceiling and he bounded back down behind the beast, it scrabbled toward him tripping on it's own feet, as it fell before getting up it's claws scratching the floor. It chased him again as he ran then made a sharp turn into the other tunnel. His feet scraped the ground and he felt the sting of an open wound and blood spurting out from a cut toe. _'Fuck this hurts…'_ he growled mentally.

And as if to mock him the words on the wall came into his mind, _'What is real? Is real something you can touch and feel? Is it something you can taste and smell? Is it the feeling of your heart beating in your breast? Or is it the the thing you see before you? When you close your eyes do you know if you are dreaming? Or are you seeing what is really real?'_ he ran but as he did he looked down at his foot he could see the blood squirting out, and he felt the hot pain in it as well. He turned his gaze forward and blinked, something felt… strange. He began to wonder even as he ran wonder whether or not… he felt the bodily weight of the beast as it tackled him. Shikamaru grunted as he fell to the ground the rock ripping into his skin, he focused power into his legs and began to wait, they rolled and he felt the ground on his foot!

He pushed and jumped into a wall with the beast slamming into it. It howled and released him as he had jumped into a particularly bulging portion of the rock wall. They fell and Shikamaru got up but the damage was done, he grunted as he limped forward his legs having lost their running power and the scrapes on his legs and chest bleeding profusely. He grunted and closed his eyes. He focused on transforming it would take 30 seconds to fully transform, but he hoped the threat of death would speed it up. However his hope was a false one as the beast stepped on his arm with a clawed front paw and bit down on his arm.

Pain shot through his body and he opened his mouth to scream only for a paw to cover his mouth. He grunted and squirmed but the pain only intensified as his arm was torn off. His eyes bulged with the pain, he breathed through his nostrils catching the foul stench of the beast. _'Fuck this… is a fucking crappy way to die! If this is all a damn dream I'd like to wake up… now if possible.'_ and he could see the beast chomping his arm before turning to his head, it dropped the mangled arm and raised the paw on his throat placing it on his chest. It's mouth opened it's rotted and blood filled breath hitting his nose… his senses were overloaded and he passed out with one final thought, _'Naruto is gonna fucking destroy you… fucker…'_

 **-Naruto and Hinata-**

Naruto tapped his leg in worry Shikamaru hadn't come back yet and he heard strange sounds from the cave passageways. He looked at Hinata who was shivering, he sighed he wanted to go after Shikamaru but he didn't want to leave Hinata either. He got up and walked to her he grabbed her by her shoulders and she looked up at him gasping slightly in surprise. "Hey I'm not going anywhere ok? Relax." he assured.

Hinata nodded, "Thank you." she said and the two sat waiting then they heard the sound of claws clacking on the ground and a deep guttural growling. Naruto stood up arm held out hand over Hinata's body as she stood up and went behind him fearful. Naruto grabbed a burning stick and threw it at the cave passage, a snarling sounded and the clacking became rapid and something swatted at the stick sending it flying into the water where it went out with a hiss. Naruto clenched his hand's into a fist as his nose smelled a familiar scent. Blood and he knew who it belonged to, he could feel it the change starting to take him, "get back…" he snarled. The steam enveloped him as he transformed when it cleared he was in his beast form snarling at the beast that just came into view.

It looked like a large wolf with pitch black fur, red eyes and a snarling muzzle with sharp teeth. It had the tattered remains of clothes on it's body but in it's mouth was a familiar pair of pants. Naruto growled and the wolf turned to look at him it snarled back then it's eyes turned to Hinata and it gave a low howl, it stood on it's hind legs and Hinata gasped. "K-Kiba!?" She gasped.

Naruto turned his head, "You're saying that thing is Kiba?" He asked.

She was shuddering and she gave a nod, "Y-Yes the first day he found me… and… and he tried to rape me…" She said fear in her voice. Naruto raised his hands and cracked his knuckles.

He turned back to Kiba, Kiba was a shell of his former self saliva dripping from his mouth his eyes rolling madly and his fur was matted and frayed, "You know back before this I thought you were an ok guy, a bit of a perv, but an ok guy but you made two fuck ups. First: you tried to rape someone. Second: You killed one of my best buds, I'm gonna enjoy beating you to paste, Kiba!" and he charged forward, the wolf also charged it's claws outstretched. Naruto thrust his shoulder out and jumped forward Kiba rolled to the side and swung up with a claw only for Naruto to grab the hand and then spin just enough to slam his knee into the arm. Though it bent it did not break and Kiba retaliated with another swipe at his head. Naruto grunted as the claws dug into his neck and raked up but he pulled his head back to avoid his eyes from getting clawed out. A hiss as the skin bubbled and began to heal over.

Naruto growled, "Bastard!" and released Kiba and swung his right fist into a liver blow. Blood spurted from Kiba's mouth as the blow sunk in hard and deep. Naruto slammed Kiba's body down and raised his foot for a curbstomp but Kiba's hands flew up grabbing the foot then pulling. Off-balanced Naruto fell but turned the fall into an attack thrusting his elbow out slamming down on the black wolf's solar plexus. A horrible crack sounded, Naruto rolled away then leaped up high elbow once again thrust out. He connected yet again and blood spurted out as Kiba's organs were pierced by bone.

A pitiful howl came out only to get silenced as Naruto rolled grabbing Kiba by the throat as he stood he spun and slammed Kiba into the floor again with such force that the beast bounced into the air. On his way down Naruto swung a soccer kick at Kiba's back the sound of bone crunching then snapping filled the cave. Kiba soared forward landing with a sickening crunch on the ground. Panting Naruto walked forward his fists wet with blood as he looked at Kiba who was twitching and gasping.

The fox stepped forward, when he neared the wolf it gave a weak but clear slash at his foot. Naruto's hand lanced forward grabbing the claw and he squeezed bones groaned then he raised the hand up thrust his knee out bringing the arm on it. With a terrible 'Crack!' the arm fell still while the wolf howled with pain. Naruto let the arm drop then he knelt down and held up his hand fingers pressed together he aimed for Kiba's neck. With a single thrust he stabbed Kiba's neck he could feel the blood pumping into his fur he pulled it out and glared down at the now dead body. He relaxed then sighed as his body reverted back to its original form the blood of Kiba's body all over him. He grabbed the body, _'weird… he doesn't feel heavy at all.'_ he dragged the body to the water and tossed it in bodily he watched it sink turning the water red. Suddenly his legs felt weak and he fell onto his butt grunting with surprise Hinata ran up to him her hands on his shoulders.

He felt her hands tremble, "A-Are you alright?" she asked.

Naruto was silent but his heart was thudding in his chest as he began to realize what he had done. True he had done it out of anger but since that anger was gone now he could feel the horror of what he'd done. Kiba had been Naruto's friend, not his best of friends but a friend nonetheless. They'd fought but it wasn't because they hated each other but it was the way they spoke to each other through their fists. Now that he thought about he had heard Kiba's fists in that fight. They were angry, confused, and… worst of all, afraid. Kiba was scared out of his mind and as a result lost himself he had become an animal to escape the pain of the situation on him. Yet he remembered what Hinata said that Kiba had tried to rape her… _'In this world he was probably crazy with his new power felt like he could do anything… but then something came and showed his place in the food chain… and through that he lost himself by becoming a beast in order to rise up in the chain only to lose it all… will that happen to me?'_ he looked at the red water and a sudden urge to dive down and devour Kiba's corpse swelled inside of him.

He stood up, accidentally knocking Hinata back "I'm gonna go for a walk real quick, sorry." he said and he walked away to gather his thoughts. Hinata just watched him go sadly ashamed of how useless she felt. She looked at the red water and suddenly her vision went black.

 **-Naruto-**

Naruto ran his hands through his hair as he walked trying to calm his thoughts. _'This world is truly a dog eat dog world where the strong devour the weak. I have to be strong… but what if I lose myself in the pursuit of strength? What if I become an animal just so I can be strong? What if I lose myself just to survive?'_ he stopped and held up his hand staring at it. _'Can I be me? Can I have power without losing myself?'_ he thought back to all the fights he ever had he then remembered something the kids used to tell him after a fight.

"Your like an animal, you sure you're human cause you sure don't act like it!" he hadn't thought much about it before, but he did have a nickname due to that, 'The Wild Fox' named because he always fought like his back was against the wall which it usually was just like the fox, it would run till it was cornered and when it was it would fight back with all the ferocity it could to hang onto life. However that was the only way he was similar to it, unlike the fox who would run from a fight he ran toward it. There was a thrill he got from a fight, a sense of being alive that only he could find… well him and Kiba did. They felt their best in the fight.

He clenched his hand into a fist and then opened it again he could see his own human hand there. "I'm… not human but not an animal… I'm… me…" he said though he wasn't sure what that meant. His ears then picked it up, the sound of water splashing coming from where Hinata was. He turned and ran as fast as his legs could carry him. The splashing intensified then suddenly stopped but he kept running when he got there he saw Hinata lying on the edge of the water unconscious her clothes torn, "Hinata!" he walked up to her he grabbed her and shook her, "Hinata! Hinata!" She groaned shifted then raised her head, "Hey you ok?" he asked.

She looked at him, then nodded weakly, "Y-Yeah I'm… fine… I don't… remember… what did… did something happen?" She asked, Naruto looked around then at the lake the red was clearing up and he saw that Kiba's body was gone. He pulled her away from the lake watching it water didn't stir, the red slowly sinking into the depths. He stared at it then glanced at Hinata his eyes narrowed slightly.

Shikamaru's words echoing in his mind, ' _She's dangerous while you were swimming that scent of blood from this morning was all over her. She was the predator… ...It's quite possible she transforms when she's not fully conscious… that would mean that she transforms when the human part of her is asleep it gives the beast free reign which means if we're not careful we'll end up on the menu ourselves.'_ he stood up pulling Hinata up as he did.

She looked at his face and for an instant fear flashed across it, "I-Is something wrong?" she asked recovering.

He stared at her then he moved away, "No, nothing's wrong." he went to the fire and after rustling the flames he pulled out a burning stick, "Come on we should get away from here if something in the water we should move in deeper." he said.

With that the two packed up and began walking Naruto leading the way, he didn't need the torch as there was light thanks to the glowing moss but it would help if there were other dangers. Even as he walked he couldn't help but glance in Hinata's direction briefly. Eventually he stopped as the came to the fork in the path, he set down everything and put out the torch he lied down, "I'm gonna call it." he said simply.

Hinata was confused as he faced away from her, he glanced once more at her, then turned away again it wasn't long before he was snoring. She went to the pack and reached in for a hotdog but then realized she wasn't hungry… which was strange considering she ate about 3 hours earlier. But she didn't argue with it, and after a while laid down herself and went to sleep.

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 **I'm sure quite a few people were waiting for this, it's finally here. A new chapter for something I'm working on. I've been digging away at a new huge project. If you wanna read it you'll have to go to my tumblr. Just search Silent Soul Ken SSK to read it I can't post it here cause... well let's just say I got attention from security and I don't want to have to leave here anytime soon.**


	5. Chapter 4

What makes a Man and what makes a Monster  
Written by Silent Soul Ken  
Assisted by Baron Von Nobody  
Summary: It had been a day like any other day, until the giant meteors hit. All those in the blast radius find themselves still alive, having awoken in a new place, but things are not what they seem…

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Chapter 4  
The Terror of an Apex Predator

Naruto woke up from a nightmare, he had dreamed he had been in his beast form only for a large beast to descend upon him. He tried to fight but even as he had turned he could feel an instinctual fear of the beast. He willed to move but his body would not respond no matter what he did. Then he had been consumed, and that was when he had woken up. He looked at Hinata who was still asleep, he got up quietly and looked at the pack, he checked the food stores. They didn't have much left, enough meat for at least 5 days worth of cooking, at least for normal people's consumption, but they weren't normal. Hinata's own appetite had been growing bigger and bigger with each meal, and if she was a beast then who knew how big _it's_ appetite was.

He looked at her wary and… afraid of her, to busy himself he turned to the fire which was little more than ashes. He got up, to start another fire, and he contemplated just running and leaving her there… but he couldn't. _'But what if she tries to eat me?'_ came the fear, _'She won't survive as a person… a monster but… if she becomes a monster is that because I abandon her?'_ came the reason. _'If she tries to eat me I'll just beat her unconscious.'_ came the bravado. He stood there thinking, trying to figure out the correct decision to make. Should he stay with her he would have to deal with the food problem if he did he would have to hunt down other beasts, other people, to feed her. He could survive on fruits and vegetables but she ate meat so far and she didn't have much an appetite for vegetables and fruits

He heard a yawn and turned to see Hinata waking up, she sat up rubbing her eyes and looking at him. "Naruto-kun is something wrong?" she asked.

He was silent thinking of an answer, "No just starting up a fire, gonna make some breakfast then we're gonna go find an exit ok?" he said, he got the fire going and grabbed the pan and meat to cook.

 **-Several Minutes Later-**

Naruto washed the pan off in the small beads of water that lined the walls. HIs fears had been confirmed, she had eaten 2 times what a normal person ate, and it reduced their food stores to just 2 days though realistically speaking it was probably just one day. He knew that he would have to find a new food source. He shook the pan of the water and walked back to Hinata. "That was a good meal." she said, "Though I kinda wish there was more." he froze then grabbed the pack and stuffed the pan back inside.

He got up hefting the now nearly empty bag, "alright let's go," he said, "hopefully we find a way out before nightfall." he said, he walked faster unable to hide his desire to get as far away from her as possible. He couldn't deny that part of him was disgusted at his cowardice, but a part of him approved of his actions wished for survival over his pride. They kept walking and as they did Naruto smelled fresh air in his nostrils. He paused and sniffed Hinata stopped watching him. He crouched almost going on all fours as he sniffed and opened his mouth tasting the water vapors in his mouth. "This way!" he said and he got up and began to run forward. Hinata running after him, Naruto's head held high as he sniffed his way to the source of the smell.

They ran for minutes but as they did the saw the light shining. They ran full tilt and came to blinding light forcing them to shield their eyes briefly. Their eyes adjusted and as it did so did their ears no longer straining to hear the softest drops of water, or the gentle streaming. The sound of animal sounds filled them, the birds chirping, cicadas buzzing and other wildlife assaulted their ears but it was a welcome assault. They stood there breathing fresh air tasting the moisture in the air. He sighed and sat down relief flooding him only to vanish as he heard the growl of her stomach. He stood up slowly, he turned to her to see her rubbing her stomach sheepishly, "Sorry all that running made me hungry maybe we can stop to eat real quick?" she asked.

Naruto paused staring at her, "We're almost out…" he said, "Meaning…" he bit his lip and looked away his stomach already churning at revolted at what he was going to say next. "We need to eat the wildlife… the people." he said. He waited, he didn't want to look at her, he couldn't look at her.

Hinata was silent, her mind thinking about what he had said. However her next thought utterly terrified her, _'that's perfectly fine with me.'_ she was jolted, eating people was not fine so why would she think it was? She shuddered with fear, and hunger, which was now filling her like a black hole. "I need… to eat." she said, "It'll be fine as long as we don't think of them as people right?" she asked.

Naruto closed his eyes, then he dropped the bag of food on the ground, "Then eat that while I go find something." he said. He opened his eyes and walked away when he was out of her sight he leaned against a tree and raised his sweaty arm to wipe his equally sweaty brow. "Shikamaru was right." he finally admitted, "I gotta… end this… and her while I can…" but even as he stood there he knew he couldn't. _'She doesn't know she's doing this… or why…'_ he frowned, _'I… can't kill her can I?'_ he realized.

He then heard it Hinata tearing into the food he glanced and saw her grabbing the uncooked meat only to shove it into her mouth without a second thought. He gritted his teeth then set out to find some meat… or rather, to find some prey.

 **-Several Minutes Later-**

Naruto stalked the animal, a large rotund animal and snorting not unlike a pig. His nose twitched as he smelled the potential meat, and fat, it would be a delicious meal but could he do it? Could he devour a person? He didn't have a choice really, he leaped out jumping on top of the creature it indeed looked like a pig, bloated and squealing as he forced it down into the ground. Naruto opened his mouth to bite down on it then he paused his eyes catching a wallet on the ground. He reached for it and with a single finger opened it. Inside the wallet was a picture of a portly man with an equally portly woman between them was a skinny teenager who was smiling sheepishly. Naruto stared at the picture then he rose up and walked away from the pig letting it huff and grunt as it got up and ran squealing. _'I can't kill innocents… I'd be worse than a murderer. I'd be a beast... but those that are beasts… they I can kill… they've thrown their humanity away already and will just prey on the weak… so I'll prey on them.'_ he resolved.

The pig squealed as it ran despite being long out of Naruto's sight it still felt it's instinctual fear, fear of a danger that had its eyes on the pig's round plump body. From the tree's claws, shining emerged and dug into its flesh. With a single quick motion the pig lay its head removed from its body. The bird like monster stared at the kill then it grabbed the food with its talons and beat its wings after several powerful beats it began to rise. It flew into the sky already with a destination in mind.

Naruto heard the wingbeats but as he raised his head he saw no bird, he stood there but the wing beats were fading away slowly but surely. He ignored them and raised his head to sniff. He could smell blood already he moved forward scenting, going on all fours to step forward. His steps light even as his ears twitched he could hear a slight hissing and the sound of ripping flesh. He swallowed the saliva pooling in his mouth even as his eyes searched for the source of the sound. The faint crunch of a twig made caused him to pause as a hiss sounded in the air.

The sound of something flicking the air, another hiss then more ripping and tearing of flesh but at a slightly more fevered pace. Naruto got on his hind legs risking a peek, he saw it, it was a serpent like beast but with a lizard like head, which explained the ripping and tearing compared to the usual snake's wrapping then swallowing whole eating method. Oddly enough though it's body was built like a snakes with no arms or legs.

The fox flicked his ears, tensed his muscles and pounced, what happened in the next few rapid seconds would be a blur to his eyes, but his mind would remember it very clearly. The reptile creature heard him and turned and opened its mouth releasing a stinking breath at his face. His nostrils however plugged themselves to prevent the smell from overpowering him. He struck with a clawed slash the reptile moved it's snake body back causing him to miss as it then wrapped around his arm then his whole body. Naruto's muscles bulged and he roared as the head came face to face with his own. He saw the human left, the pale head with purple marks on each eye, and yellow slitted slotted just above the lizard head crown. The face smirked as it stared at naruto's face.

Naruto snapped his jaw down the head moving out of the way. His feet on the ground he jumped with one foot, a poor jump but enough to spin in the air and force the reptile off him or get crushed. He placed a hand on the ground and pivoted on his arm his foot slicing at the reptile. It again tried to move back when Naruto's toes flexed outward. The extra inch it provided was enough to scrape the body to create a cut. It howled with pain and squirmed. He barely had a foot on the ground when he pounced again this time he whipped out his tails which extended and wrapped around the reptile drawing it in.

Naruto could feel his body move partially by instinct partially by command. But with each attack he made he could get a stronger and stronger hold of its abilities and limits. He knew what he could do something in his mind told him what to do and how to do it. His grasp of control was becoming broader and the possibilities of what his body could do grew. His next attack was swift, he spun and his tails clenched hard. The reptile hissed it's snake body whipping as it spun in circles before the tails released it slamming it into the ground and into the body that it had been feasting on. Blood splattered everywhere some of it falling on Naruto's tongue as he panted. He felt a spike of an urge, an urge to brutalize and consume.

He squashed it down, and he attacked stabbing into its body the reptile screamed and writhed then something unexpected happen. Thick bones with sharp points suddenly emerged from its body including around it's head forming a cage of blades. Naruto cried out as his hand was pierced he pulled it out just as it began to spin rapidly then lowered it's head down and drilled into the earth. The fox held up his hand and grunted as he felt his skin bubble then heard the hiss as it began to heal. But he barely had time to gawk when he felt the ground rumble.

He jumped back as the reptile burst from where he had been, arc and submerge itself again. Naruto growled then he raised one foot and stomped the ground. His foot however sunk into the ground, he withdrew it and flipped forward just as a mouth covered by bones emerged to snap at his feet. He jumped again into the air and into a tree where he clung onto with one arm while searching the ground.

The enemy emerged slicing it's kill and then sinking back into the ground again. The ground was becoming finely grounded up making it effectively quicksand. Naruto climbed onto the tree branch when he felt tree shudder. He growled then a quick slash cut the top of the tree, a few more turned it into a spike which he threw at the ground. There was a splat and a screech and he saw the ground turn red with blood.

The spike wiggled ferociously then fell still. He waited it out then he jumped to another tree and repeated the process this time when it sank in, the ground didn't move and turned a deeper shade of crimson. He slid off and landed in the ground and dug out the beast. It was dead, bleeding out and most of its bones had retreated into its skin. The ones that hadn't he grabbed and pulled out, he was thankful that said bones weren't connected to the actual body. They seemed to be some extra bones that were connected to the main tissue muscle. He pulled one up and then bit down, it didn't break but it did crack. If he was truly hungry he could've broken down the bone like breaking glass but it wasn't his hunger he had to satisfy.

 **-Hinata-**

Hinata could feel it, she had felt it when she had finished eating and was now waiting for Naruto to return. When she heard herself talk, something was lurking inside of her and it was breaking out. She was terrified… of herself. The hunger gnawing at her was unnatural or rather it was beyond human nature. She wanted to devour flesh to satisfy her hunger, she wanted to taste the blood on her tongue like it was a drink and feel the crunch of bones and the squish of flesh in her teeth. "Nooo… no... " She gasped even as she felt her heart thudding in her chest.

She smelt it, blood and flesh it was triggering the change inside of her. She wanted to run to prevent herself from turning into a monster and hurting Naruto. But as the smell got stronger the transformation spasms got stronger. She clutched at her heart, _'Stop… stop! I don't want to be a monster!'_ she willed herself so desperately.

Naruto walked through the forest path still in his monster form, his ears twitched as he heard the panting and squeaks of terror from Hinata he moved with urgency dropping the meat he ran. He saw Hinata, laying on the ground hand on stomach,l twitching, her skin starting to change color scales blistering on her body. "Hinata?" he asked, she twitched then looked up at Naruto. Her eyes were turning a golden color and her face was wrenched into a look of pure horror and shock.

She gasped then she groaned, "Naruto… please… k-kill me!" she gasped.

Naruto could see the change but he also saw the conflict, "You can fight it! C'mon Hinata you're strong enough to do it." but his words were weak and shaky. His body was reacting to her, something about her was causing an instinctual fear inside of him.

Hinata sobbed, "I'm not… I never was! I'm not like you… you who saved me years… who I love more than anything I have ever loved in my life." Naruto blushed at that, "I don't want to become a monster, I don't want to kill you… Kill me… please…" she begged.

Naruto looked at her then he leaned down and held his claws to her throat. She pressed her neck against them her red rimmed teary eyes staring at his face. He knew he had to stab his claws in and kill her… _'Do it,'_ a beastial growl commanded him. _'Kill her so you can live.'_ it said.

He gritted his teeth, eyes narrowed as he wrestled with two thoughts. _'If I kill her I kill my humanity and I may as well live my life as a beast… but if I don't kill her she'll eat me…'_ Naruto growled, _'Dammit… my humanity vs my life this isn't fair... Fuck!'_ he roared his hand trembling then he pulled his claws away from her throat. "I can't do it!" he said turning away.

Hinata stared at him then she saw his hand and the blood. Her nostrils flaring, she knew she couldn't stop it anymore. "Run…" She gasped, "Run away!" then she gagged and from her throat a low growl emitted. Her skin steaming as she began to transform.

Naruto turned he stared at the steam covered her and he tried to move to stop her transformation but the sound of a growl made him freeze. Even shrouded in the steam Naruto could see her outline standing. He tried to move but his feet only moved him backwards while in his mind a voice screamed, _'Run, run!'_ but he wanted to help her he wanted to make her be human. _'Dammit do something!'_ he roared at himself. He turned and ran, _'NO!'_ but he couldn't stop he ran, getting down to all fours for speed as he ran away from her as fast as he possibly could.

Hinata stood up growling the smell of blood fresh in the air transformation completed her scent glands on the side of her head sniffing. She snarled as she followed the scent, she came across the snakes carcass her lips shuddering as it pulled back into a snarl. She leaped on it and began to eat the flesh tearing into it with wild ferocity. Her claws ripping it just as rapidly as her mouth did. Within seconds it was stripped clean of meat merely a pile of fat and blood. She growled the meal not enough to satisfy her belly. She sniffed and the blood from Naruto's hand caught her scent glands. She ran after it going on all fours herself, her powerful legs allowing her to speed through while her powerful body bashed through the tree's like they were cardboard.

Naruto could hear the tree's snapping and breaking as Hinata chased after him. Despite being a good 40 seconds ahead she had caught up to him within eight. He kept running the fear of her presence and death fueling his speed and desperation. But he could hear her, as she snarled and growled with each tree she smashed through. Time slowed to a crawl as he looked and sniffed at the same time. He smelled many things, insects, fruits, flowers, moss, and water. He looked around and saw small insects flying, flowers blooming here and there, tree's covered in moss… and a tangle of vines hanging between some trees.

He smelled the water coming from that direction as well. It was a chance he had to take. He jumped at the veins flattening his arms and legs against his body he flew through the vines like a bullet and fell into a pond of water. He quickly submerged himself down the pond wasn't very deep but it was enough that his body was underneath…. Save his tails. Naruto would've grunted but controlled his tails sinking them down. He sank to the bottom once there he wriggled his tails mud and dirt floated up making it murky. He had gotten a good amount of air in his lungs, and could hold his breath for at least 3 minutes with this new body and his enlarged lungs he figured he had double the time.

Hinata snarled as she pushed past the vines ripping them to shreds as she sought out her prey. Her scent organs sniffing, she walked up to the pound and looked around where the scent had vanished. She huffed then she closed her eyes when she opened them there was a thin film about them, she looked and snarled as her vision showed trace amounts of heat from the prey she sought. Forming footprints that she couldn't see before but now was as clear as day. They led to the pool her lips trembled as she leaned in to the muddy water. She blinked again and although she couldn't see into it she knew he was there.

Naruto felt it a prickling in his back as his senses detected the danger. He moved automatically, the water shifted and he saw Hinata's face, snarling, teeth bared, eyes shining and water distorted by her hiss. He scrambled backwards his fingers and claws digging into the mud propelling him upward. Her arms shot toward him but a flick of his feet knocked them away and he was out even as her body fell into the pool. He was out and was running toward the tree line, but something shot out o the water. He didn't have time to react and something stuck into his back.

His vision blurred and his feet faltered he stumbled into a tree reached into his back and grabbed something he pulled it out and looked at it. It looked like a spike, he remembered seeing them on Hinata's tail. There was a strange purple liquid leaking out mixing with his blood. "For fucks sake she has poison spines that she can shoot?!" he growled he threw it on the ground. He couldn't outrun her… but he could outjump her. He did so jumping toward the treeline but even as he tried to put his feet down lightly he felt the poison mess with his senses and he landed heavily on the branch which cracked loudly. He jumped off and landed on another branch. He felt the burn of the poison inside of him, but he knew his body was working against it but it was dulling his senses the poison was strong, strong enough to give his healing factor a work over.

He growled and jumped toward the tree his hand reaching out for the trunk. He grabbed onto it jumping from branch to branch using the trunk to anchor him. He heard the screech of tree's falling over, but thankfully they were a way off. His rapid pace kept him far ahead of the falling tree's… and more importantly ahead of her. But he knew it wouldn't last there was only so much forest his nose told him he was running out he could smell the leaves, the dew, and the sap. Less of it in the direction he was going but he couldn't turn his body still mis-coordinated from the poison doing such an act would make him tumble to earth and be devoured without a second thought.

But even as he swung he felt a strange… feeling of remembrance. A voice calling out to him, _"This way! Come on!"_ he blinked, he looked to his right. A young man with black hair ran next to him was a girl with pink hair. He looked to his left and saw another man also with black hair tied up by a headband and wearing glasses. He… knew them from school. The boy was Sasuke, the girl was Sakura and the other boy was Shino… but he hadn't met them… not yet anyway but somehow he had seen them but he couldn't- he suddenly realized he was flying over the ground the tree line having stopped.

He turned but it was too late, "Shit!" He cried as he landed on the ground. He dug his claws in and turned to jump back in but Hinata bashed through snarling. He got to his feet and stepped backwards but as one foot fell back he felt it plunge. He looked behind to see a deep drop leading to the ground below… he looked around to see there was room to run but it would be pointless here. Hinata proved she could outrun him… and if she could do that then there was only one choice left… suicide. He looked at the chasm behind him and swallowed as his vision blurred from vertigo, in he turned to face Hinata as she stomped toward him her mouth open saliva dripping in long sticky ropes.

Naruto looked down not wanting to look into that gaping maw. "What the hell man! I just… I wanted to protect you… I wanted… to do something right for once with this new power… and now…!" he felt tears stinging his eyes "Dammit!" he growled.

" _So... I take it you got your ass handed to you... am I right?" Jiraiya asks, a cold bottle of beer in his hand._

Naruto gritted his teeth, _'Why that memory? Why now?'_

 _-Flashback-_

 _Naruto angrily wipes his face of blood and tears, and spits back, "None of your business you pervy Geezer!"_

 _"Look, you don't have to go into details about the hows and whys... but a real man should own up to his losses... so tell me you at least managed to get one in on the other guy..."_

 _Naruto glared at the ground, "Yeah… once…"_

 _Jiraiya was silent as he took a drink of the beer smacking his lips once then sighing, "Now, I'm not going to chastise you kid for getting in a fight... I'll leave that to Tsunade... what I am going to say though is you lose a fight the moment you decide to quit... did you get knocked down on the first punch, and you just let them use you as a punching bag? Hoping to draw their attention from someone else?... Look kid... while I'll admit, standing up for someone takes guts... but all that is worth is shit if you don't fight back when the fighting starts... learn to stand up for yourself before standing for others!" he grabbed Naruto by the collar and pulled him so they were face to face. "Learn to swallow that fear, grit those teeth, and stand your ground, because no one else will do it for you..." He had growled into Naruto's face._

 _-Reality-_

He chuckled, he knew why now. "Yeah…" he felt the instinctual fear in him still the fear of an animal. "I'm not an animal… but I'm not human… I'm something in between. Human and animal combined… which means I have the strength of a human as well. Most humans would also quiver in the face of danger. But there are some." he punched a fist into the ground. Hinata who had been advancing took a step back. He looked up at her, "Some who will stare death and danger right in the face and fight!" he stood up his muscles bulging his human spirit overriding the instinctual fear. "I will be among those! I will look death in the eye!" he took a step forward she a step back. "Apex Predator or not, I will face them with all my strength! And fight for the one life I have! To protect other people, I will protect myself... when I can do that then… then I will protect them! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" he roared into the sky a roar that shook the air. Hinata stepped backward then forward.

In her mind the animal was in control, it had been scared of this defiance but that fear was overridden with arrogance, and pride. Pride of being an Apex Predator, pride of being stronger… or was it? Hinata was deep within able to see but unable to take control. But even inside she knew that this body of her's could feel fear and she knew that if Naruto was able to win the fear would consume it and she could take control so she would wait. Wait for Naruto to win… "Please win." she begged.

Naruto growled as he stared at her, Hinata roared at him and he snarled back at her. As they stared Naruto looked at her tail he saw the spines he counted them 6 of them in total. His body had purged her poison but the damage it had inflicted on his healing, that had only been from 1 spine, if all 6 had impacted he'd be in trouble. _'Which means her tail must be sealed off.'_ he glared at her.

" _When you're in a fight for life and death don't think about fighting fair, that's for idiots looking to die. Forget about honor too… you're fighting for your life not your honor. One is your life the other is an ideal. Which of the two is more important?"_

Naruto knew that answer. "My life… my ideals are for later, if I can protect my life then I can fight for my ideals." he growled. He saw in his mind a fight against a bully once, the bully was bigger, stronger, tougher… but that fell apart when Naruto got ahold of his neck. He had held on till the bully had fainted from lack of air. _'Tch getting her neck will be tough but if I can use my tails I can do it… the problem is maintaining control. No I don't need to I need to convince my body to do it.'_ he moved first, charging straight at her.

The beast snarled and swung here tail at him spines outstretched. He jumped spinning horizontally just in time to avoid the spines as they ejected from her tail. 2 sailed below, 2 just missing his arms and the last two sailing past tail fur. He landed then slid down and extended his leg out in a sweep kick. It hit her foot and he winced at the hardness of her skin and bones but it was enough to trip her up.

With that a deadly dance began, Naruto struck at her side again the hardness of the skin and bones made him wince but he swung for her head as she fell down only to move to the side to avoid her claw from reaching out toward him. He swung his open hand up to the back of her neck to pull her down when one of her clawed wings reached for the hand. He withdrew it and slammed his fist into her gut. But met hard skin again and a claw reached for his head.

He swayed under the claw and opened his own hand into a claw _'if my fists don't work then maybe my claws will!'_ he slashed at her side and felt his nails digging in and ripping the skin apart. She snarled and her own clawed hand came and sunk into his side. Naruto gritted his teeth but didn't feel his vision blurred, it seemed the poison was limited to her spines, _'Good,'_ he spun away slicing at her middle as he did dodging the follow up swipes she made however she thrust her body forward sending him sprawling to the ground.

He rolled as she shot out more spines. He glanced at her middle where the slashes he made were slowly closing up. _'So she has a healing factor as well but it's not as strong as mine. This means I can go dirty.'_ he opened his hand revealing his claws she snarled and her tail swung up then stabbed down toward him. He kicked off the ground jumping backward he dug his claws in to prevent himself from going too far and used his powerful arms to rocket toward her. She swung her claws at him but he was already slamming his head against her gut making her stagger. Naruto then slashed at her legs cutting them up to prevent her from moving. Even as she snarled with pain he pivoted and side stepped so that he was behind her.

She tried to turn but the pain in her legs made her stumble. In response her claw wing shot forward, Naruto knocked it aside with a swipe of his tail as he slashed 2 times at her own. The skin was harder but the two slices was enough to rip the skin. Just as he was to slice at the tail again the two claws sprung backwards slashing at him. He grabbed them both and jerked them then twisted them down causing two loud cracks and a roar to sound.

The tail slammed into his leg and a barb dug in. He grunted, maintaining his footing, but used the opportunity to give one more slicing slash digging into the meat of her tail and then grabbing it. The barbs shot out again but he dodged them and he slammed a foot down even as his vision blurred. His muscles bulged as he felt her feet dig into the ground resisting his attempt to lift her up. He dug in his own feet and his muscles bulged even more her feet dragging on the ground. He turned and her feet scrabbled on the ground, "Nyraaaah!" he roared as he began to spin her around even as she clawed the ground with hand and feet.

He was spinning now in a olympic Hammer throw her considerable weight making him dig in his heels as he spun around and around. He could feel the signs of dizziness affecting him thanks to the venom but he kept spinning his ears listening. He heard eventually the first tear of skin as her tail began to separate from her body. Blood was now spurting wildly everywhere in a spray painting the air red and both of their skin's crimson. He heard the second tear and he raised his arms up increasing the pull and weight of her body and tail increasing the overall force in the motion. The ripping of flesh grew and he could feel the tail suddenly pull away but it needed a final tug, he knew exactly what that motion was. He planted his toes down gripping down and he turned and placed her tail on his shoulder. He then pulled with a loud roar and Hinata sailed up and over his head a terrible ripping sounding and she flew several feet away from him into and her body skidded and rolled on the ground as her tail came off. Naruto held up the tail which squirmed with little life before falling still he tossed it on the ground in front of her even as she stood.

She stumbled slightly her balance lost without her tail he glared at her as she snarled but he could see she was fearful. He had proven that he wasn't willing to be fearful in fact more than that he had proven he was a viable threat. Fear would cause normal animals to run, but for an Apex Predator fear meant that something could kill it. In these cases a predator would fight harder and more ferociously so that none could challenge it in battle. It would kill the opposition so it would maintain it's status. For the beast in Hinata it would not allow Naruto to live even with it's wings broken and it's tail ripped off it would fight to the bitter end if only so it could maintain it's pride. Naruto walked up his hands curling into fists he would beat her into submission with all the power he had. With her two major sources of damage out of the picture he could hit her only needing to watch for her own claws. She pushed herself to her feet her healing factor having healed enough to do that. But it was clear she wasn't sturdy he approached rapidly his fists held up and he swung at her skull it hit but her head was so impressively hard that he winced in pain. But the blow was sufficient enough that she staggered slightly. _'Harder! Ignore the pain!'_ and indeed his next blow was harder aiming for the side of her skull.

A claw swung up to get him, he brought his elbow down on it slamming the point on the open palm. She squealed and withdrew her hand shaking it even as he dug in his feet and pivoted swinging for her ribs. He felt it connect and unlike her head he got more leeway even with her muscle cushioning the blow but it sunk in deeper as a result. She recoiled and lashed out with a series of swipes that he dodged. _'It seems to be the typical case her body despite being powerful is soft possibly cause she's not a physical person me on the other hand.'_ Naruto had fought countless times to the point that his body was hardened both in muscle and bone. He was a fighter a born fighter at that, it just took a few years for him to realize that and to train his body into peak condition.

He forced a fist into her swipe and it connected with her jaw she staggered back again her head raised her feet stumbling. Her arms flailed wildly and Naruto gritted his teeth as one of her claws swiped his side. He struck back with a powerful kick to her leg it connected causing her to collapse as her still half-healed legs couldn't take the strain. The ground shook as she fell and Naruto pressed his advantage aiming for her face again with powerful downward punches even throwing a few kicks as well. The barrage of blows forcing her to raise her arms and cover herself. A sound began to come from her, he paused to hear the whimpering squeak. He stood there unsure of what to do… _'mount and bite her!'_ came the bestial response of his animal instincts.

He flushed as slightly at that thought, he shook himself then realized he could use it somewhat he wouldn't bite her neck but he could do a chokehold. If he did that he could knock her out, he jumped behind her he wrapped one arm around her neck and the other around his and pulled putting pressure on her neck. _'Her neck will be easy to-what the-!?'_ even as he wrapped his arm around he could feel it, powerful muscles. A growl emitted from her throat and she got up, jumped and turned her back facing the earth. He tried to let go but was too slow and he felt his body get crushed his body sinking into the ground. "Graaah!" he growled as his head slammed down his vision blurring from a concussion. He knew he had to hold on if he let go she would tear him to pieces, he felt her start to roll _'But at this rate she'll turn me into putty.'_ his tails waved about and he tried to use them to push off the ground but she was too heavy.

He grunted as rocks dug into his skin, he felt her stand up again wobbling only to jump again. _'Dammit I gotta do something!'_ he noted she had jumped even higher. _'With her weight this is gonna hurt alot… wait a minute I can-'_ but before he could finish the thought she came down and he grunted as air was knocked out of his lungs and his ribs groaned ominously. But he held on grimly as a plan had formed _'That really fucking hurt! Do it again I dare you cause the next time you do you're gonna regret it!'_ he then began to shout, "You'll never shake me!" of course the beast was goaded. It sensed his loosening grip from her recent jumps and this time it would jump the highest it had ever jumped. Indeed it did, it leaped high into the air soaring over the treeline and then coming down. Naruto gritted his teeth as he felt he wind resistance against his skin and head he wrapped his tails around her waist he released her neck and held up his arms and aimed his elbows right for her skull. The elbow was among the hardest parts on the body and since his body had become even harder still with his beast form he was sure it would be enough for a knockout blow.

He felt his back muscles bulge as it prepared for the fall and his chest muscles also bulged as well. Her weight combined with the fall would inflict severe damage to him hopefully he could curb it somewhat. _'This is gonna hurt.'_ and it did when they crashed down the weight of the two from the fall alone created a crater several feet deep doming downward. Naruto felt the blood pooling his mouth and he coughed his blood spurting out of his mouth spraying into the air. But he knew he had won, the limp body on top of him was proof. He grunted as he felt the broken bones moving, he used his tails to push her off and he grunted as he hugged his stomach. He groaned then cried out as his bones cracked. "Shit I gotta!" he held up his own clawed hands and sliced at his torso gouging it out just in time as his old ribs were forced out by his newly grown ones. He pulled them out quickly even as his skin hissed as it reformed back into solidity and his bones now regrown back to normal.

As for his spine the bones grew on top of each other the old bones that were broken were consumed then used as material for the new bones. As the spine was slightly more important it's reformation was more delicately handled compared to the ribs which while still important could be handled more violently. He grunted as he lay there the punctured organs having reformed back to normal and the blood staunched and relayed back into his vessels. With that done he got to his feet painfully. His bones still aching he stood and looked at Hinata her body still transformed. He saw the slight indent where his elbows had slammed into her head. He reached down to flip her over when he heard it. _'Kill her! KIll her and become the Apex become the top predator! Survive!'_ he grabbed her shoulder and flipped her around. She lay there breathing slightly her body exposed to whatever he wished.

He felt his body jerk he looked to see his claws growing longer slightly his muscles bulging. He knew what his animal instincts wanted, but he looked at her and he felt the urge to kill her but also the urge to save her… protect her. _'Before you protect other's protect yourself.'_ he stared at her then he looked at his claws. _'I've already protected myself… and if i can do it against her then I don't have to fear her.'_ he stared at her and knew his answer instantly. "No I won't kill her… her and the animal has no say in the matter unless it means her survival." he stared at her then his eyes focused on her neck. He remembered the animal speaking, _'dominate her,'_ he then remembered something in biology class.

" _Most animals when they find a mate mark them as a sign of dominance. It varies from animal to animal but one of the more commonly known one is the bite to the neck. This is exhibited by cats and there are many theories behind such a mark. Lately…"_ the rest droned away. He looked at her then knelt down his lips quivering as he opened his mouth.

It was then that Hinata's eyes opened he withdrew fist raised, "W-wait please!" he stopped his fist half-way the force of his punch creating a slight windblast. He stared as Hinata looked at him her eyes no longer feral but wide and innocent and no longer golden now a pale yellow. She was staring at him and he stared at her. "I-It's strange… it's like… like…" She tried to find the word.

Naruto kept his fist held up, "Like you're in a suit?" he asked she nodded he hesitated then unclenched his fist. "Just see what happens when you move your fingers and toes first." he backed away diggin his toes in so he didn't slide down, watching her body move he was fortunate that he did move. Her arm slashed out where he had been and her leg snapped up as well. "Yeesh you are built for being a predator huh?" He asked dourly.

She hiccuped, "S-Sorry…" he could see the tears in her eyes.

He sighed, "Just figure out how to stand up first." he said.

But Hinata had something else in mind, "Turn me on my back." she said he looked at her then she snarled lunging at him only stopping mid lunge. "I-It's coming back you have to dominate me!" she gasped.

Naruto gasped, "Oh the mating thing right?" He asked, "I m-mean not that you aren't good looking c-cause you are!" he said suddenly noticing he was feeling defensive.

But Hinata was getting frustrated, "Just shut up and do it! Th-The-AAAAARAGH!" she roared her back arching making her stand up. There was a loud crack and Naruto saw those clawed wings rising up, then they stuttered and fell onto her shoulders again. "Dominate me and it won't see you as a threat only as the Alpha, If you are the alpha it can't harm you!" she growled.

Naruto didn't understand entirely but he jumped at her tackling her down and flipping her onto her back even as her stump of a tail wriggled trying to throw barbs but had long since been lost. He grabbed her head pushing it aside staring at her neck. He felt her head move but he held it in place he opened his mouth his heart thudding. The experience made him feel like a vampire, he remembered the comics and movies and he had to admit there was something strangely arousing about the whole thing. Hinata trembled as she felt his hot breath at her neck and he paused then he placed his teeth down and bit gently. "Harder…" she muttered her own breath coming out in weak gasps. Her toes digging into the ground as her body tried to stand she felt his teeth sinking into her skin as he bit down harder.

He could hear it in his head, the voices urging him to bite down and tear out her flesh to devour her. He bit down harder his teeth piercing through the scales and into her flesh. The softness was like a perfectly roasted ham so tender and the blood filling his mouth was a nice aftertaste he was pressing down on her even with her bigger body which was stiffening as he asserted animal dominance. The animal in her retreated back into her consciousness having been conquered by an Alpha Male. Hinata whimpered as she felt his teeth sink into her muscles.

She shuddered "st-stop please," she moaned.

Naruto was brought of his trance and he released her "S-Sorry got a bit carried aw-," he was stopped by Hinata flipping onto her back and grabbing him pulling him into a kiss they locked lips for several seconds. When they parted they stared into each other's eyes. Then they stood up and headed to the woods to fully act on the emotions bombarding them.

 **-Several Hours Later-**

Naruto laid with Hinata the two covered by a bed of leaves both having reverted to human form, and both completely naked she wrapped her arms around his torso pulling herself closer. "That was amazing," She muttered.

Naruto smiled, "Yeah… so…. How long?" he asked.

Hinata was silent as she thought, "5 Years." He blinked.

He turned his head, "When did we meet before highschool?" He asked.

She smiled, "I've known you since kindergarten I didn't love you till the final year of Junior High. That was when you were in the MMA club." she said, "You fought that boy so hard." She said.

Naruto turned his gaze to the treeline, 5 years ago he had been in an MMA club, it wasn't a real MMA club more of a hybrid Karate Judo club. He had been chosen for the finals and fought a guy named Atsui from another school. The fight lasted 5 rounds and Naruto was outclassed he didn't win the fight but he won the crowd for never giving up. He turned to her and suddenly he remembered a shy girl who was watched over by a boy with eyes like a hawk. He laughed, "You grew up big huh?" He said gesturing to her chest. She blushed but gave a slight smile.

She looked at him, "I-If it pleases you I wouldn't be against being bigger." She said.

It was his turn to blush, "N-Not against it but uh I think you're uh… good." he said, she smiled and pulled herself even closer her chest mashing against his arm. He turned his body to face her, he knew her for years they didn't really talk save this year… but he found that he loved her more than anybody else in his entire life… more than Sakura even. It was strange he felt this way after only a few days around her. But he found he wanted to protect her and make her his… and only his. "I love you." he said, "it feels weird saying this especially since I only really got to know you a few days… but I guess when you find that person in your life you just 'click' together." he kissed her again and she returned it gratefully. When they broke they pressed their heads together and fell asleep in each other's embrace.

 _ **-?-**_

" _ **So how do we build this thing?" Naruto asked, crouching from atop a rock. Below him Sasuke, Sakura, Shino, and about 20 more people stood around him. "It's not like we have power tools." he said.**_

 _ **Sasuke smirked, "No but we have our beast forms and they have special abilities we can use. Alright, you 5." he pointed to 5 people who stood forward, "Go get some stones, you 5 wood and…"**_

 _ **Naruto was lifting a wood pole up lining it on another pole as Shino coated the top and bottom with a stick substance that he spat out from his large beetle like form. While his insects trimmed the wood by eating the bark and giving it to another beast who would use it's long claws to smooth out the bare wood. It was quite a operation building houses for themselves. It took a few days but with everybody cooperating and sharing food from both the river and forest everybody was content. They talked about this new world and how they missed shops and chips, burgers, ramen and video games.**_

 _ **More people came and they were starting to create their own mini-society… it was great… it was like the old days.**_

 _ **But the vision shifted, Naruto stared at a hulking monstrosity he was in his beast form and he was in pain. Blood dotting his body from wounds that had healed but the pain reached deeper. It reached to his heart the pain of watching this thing eating and ripping apart the people only to take parts of their body and stick it on it's own.**_

 _ **A hand grabbed his arm, "We gotta go!" Sasuke's voice shouted. But Naruto shook it off.**_

 _ **He stepped forward, "We gotta kill this thing! We promised to protect these people!" he was about to run when he felt an electric shock run through his body. He stiffened then fell forward he wasn't unconscious but he couldn't move.**_

 _ **Sasuke grabbed him, "Forget them we gotta go, that thing will kill us all!" he snapped, he hefted Naruto onto his broad scaley shoulders and ran off with Naruto, Sakura right behind him lumbering on in her beast form.**_

 _ **Naruto stared at Sasuke as the rain fell on them. "What the fuck Sasuke!? We said we were all in this together! You just fucking sacrificed all those people just to save your neck!" he shouted pointing an accusatory finger.**_

 _ **Sasuke's monster form was shadowed by the rain and darkness, "They're expendable you're not." he said coolly.**_

 _ **Naruto growled, "Nobody is expendable you fucking bastard!" he charged Sasuke and punched him in the jaw. The battle came in flashes, a kick to the gut, a blow to his skull, a barrage of fists, and a clawed hand stabbing into his heart then electricity, a final great swing and he felt the claws sinking neck muscles extending to decapitate Sasuke, he fell bleeding out…**_

 _ **He was dead… and yet… he heard voices that were muffled… and he felt like he was… floating in something wet. "Surprising… Scenario… another… reset…. Experiment…. Different… others." he felt something piercing his spine the pain too much to bear he was gonna die again!**_

 _-Naruto-_

"YAAAAAAAAAAH!" Naruto shouted as he sat up a fist thrown sweat sliding down his body. He panted as Hinata sat up a relaxing hand on his arm. He blinked then he gripped his head as a headache throbbed. "I… I had… a weird dream." he said.

Hinata looked at him worriedly, "You mean the one with the floating and the people talking?" she asked remembering.

He nodded, "Not just that I… I was with… Sasuke, and others, we were… building a village then this thing… attacked and we ran I fought Sasuke cause… cause he ran and we killed each other. Then the wet and the voices again and something was in my spine… hurt so much I was dying again." he said "It… doesn't make any sense… I haven't seen Sasuke or Sakura or Shino." Hinata was silent.

She then spoke, "I… I saw Sakura… but Sasuke wasn't with her." she said, "She… tried to kill me… but I think I transformed and when I was awake she was gone." Naruto was silent. He then stood up transforming to cover his nudity. When he finished he noticed that he was slightly taller than last time and his muscles felt bigger but also more compact. He looked at his claws and noticed they were longer and thicker. In fact he could feel new power swelling up inside of him.

He looked at her, "C'mon we're gonna get your tail back." he said. Hinata looked at him worried, then she stood up, she concentrated on transforming. He paused, "Remember the danger and feel the need to protect yourself and those you love. If you do that you won't become a monster." Hinata nodded and began to create the desire to protect herself… and the one she loved. She felt the transformation start, the bones cracking and growing thickening. The feel of her muscles swelling as well as her body. The tail growing in, only to stop merely a fleshy stub. She felt the wing's emerging from her back the flesh changing turning into scales while creating the flaps needed for flying however they currently couldn't carry her bulk and were more like an extra pair of hands. She growled as she felt the skin turning into scales and the slight spikes along her spine. Her hands grew and her fingernails turned into claws that she clenched into fists.

Within seconds she was in her full monster form, Hinata had to admit changing felt… good. She could feel the strength in her body fully now whereas before it felt alien to her and unfamiliar. Also unlike before moving her fingers in this body didn't cause a slash but it did cause her arm to move around quite a bit. "Maybe because I never transformed of my own accord my motions weren't technically mine." she said. Naruto thought about that, while that might've been true the only time he really transformed without wanting to was against Mizuki and the three that ambushed him. But for some reason he had gotten the motions of his body pretty quickly… almost… as if he had done it before.

His head ached as a strange vision came to mind, _he was standing in front of Sakura while a bear-like beast reared on it's hind legs and slashed at him. His chest was cut open but instead of falling dead he began to change._ Naruto grabbed his throbbing head. Strange scenes flashing in his eyes.

Hinata rubbed her head as she began to feel the soreness from Naruto's attacks from before. Her head, her stomach, there were very few parts that were spared. She then saw him grabbing his head his teeth gritted with pain, "What's wrong?" She asked.

He growled as the memories finally faded at her voice, "I… remember things… I… don't know why… but I feel like… this is… not the first time I've... " he trailed off then shook his head, "Never mind I can't live twice." he said, "Let's get your tail." he said he turned away but the thought was nagging at his mind, _'What if I was alive once died then brought back to life? Or what if… I'm dead and this is all an illusion?'_ the last one was dumb he knew he could feel things and he could sleep but nothing made sense. If he had died why would someone bring him back to life? _'Maybe something not human did it.'_ the sudden thought that he was in some world simulated by an alien species came to mind.

Hinata saw Naruto walking past her tail which was still there bleeding and emitting an unpleasant odor. "Naruto!" she called out and he stopped then turned his eyes were unfocused. "Are you okay?" She asked.

He nodded "Yeah sorry anyway let's reattach your tail," he said, he grabbed it and walked up to her, "In that vision I saw this thing was taking parts of… people and attaching to itself so I thought maybe it might work with your tail." he lowered himself, Hinata presenting her tail nub. He used his claws to carve out her tail so it would fit with the nub. He then stuck it in and held it there, several minutes passed with Hinata staring at the night sky. The stars shone brightly in the sky, Naruto then saw it, "There we go." Hinata stiffened as she felt her skins shift then strands of tendons were connecting with her tail and rebuilding the nerves that had been damaged devouring the old ones to use as material for the new nerves. Hinata felt the sensation of her tail but didn't move letting her regeneration heal it up first.

After another few minutes she looked behind to see her tail sliding side to side on the ground. She looked at it but then wondered how to move it, "Think about moving it, that's how I move mine." Naruto's tails whipped about as if to clarify his theory. Hinata concentrated on lifting her tail up. She felt the muscles contracting near her butt and she turned and saw the tail was lifted. She raised, lowered, whipped, spun and even shot a spine out. The moment it left Naruto jumped to the side and she felt the spine regrowing. As it did though her spines began to flatten down onto her tail and her claws also seemed to sink into her hands till they were just small points. Naruto looked at her, "Seems you almost got controlling this body down." he noted.

She smiled, "I have a good teacher." She said he blushed at that then he walked up to her.

He grabbed her hands, "So then where do we go?" He asked.

She shrugged, "Anywhere as long as it's with you." She said and she leaned in to kiss him, responded with a kiss of his own.

He then thought, "Let's see if we can find someplace to get some clothes, not against looking like this but I think we want to walk around like our normal selves." he said.

She nodded, "Yes I think that'd be nice." The two walked off into the night their eyes seeing through the darkness. But they weren't the only ones who saw in the dark. Perched on one of the trees in the forest watching them with shining golden eyes was the bird beast from before. A growl was emitting from it's throat as it's eyes saw them with such focus and clarity it was as if it stood at their side. It raised a taloned hand which held a squirming squeaky rodent and crushed it with ease. It then flew into the sky to wait for the chance to strike...

* * *

 **I apologize deeply for the long silence but I'm working on several stories at once and I'm a slow writer. I will say I am working on entries for Rebirth, Man and Monster and a few other stories. So please I ask for patience and understanding. THank I hope you enjoyed.**


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